


Horsing Around

by ClagJanetSMK



Series: The Sundance Stories [7]
Category: Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Genre: Action/Adventure, Allergies, Always Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth, Evil Oil Baron, F/M, Horses, TV Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 23:44:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17877035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClagJanetSMK/pseuds/ClagJanetSMK
Summary: Our heroes ride to the rescue on an honest-to-goodness princess!





	1. The Paper Bag Princess

The last thing Amanda expected to find in the line at the grocery store was a princess. It wasn't like she didn't know the erstwhile Penelope Squire, now Crown Princess of Zakir was in Washington since she'd been helping type up the planning notes for her security detail for weeks. It was just that she was pretty sure that the itineraries she'd seen had never included a stop at the Arlington A&P.

She was instantly recognizable to Amanda who'd been following the preparations for the royal tour both at work and in the papers, but it seemed like no one else in the store had realized who she was. All they were seeing was a woman who had obviously forgotten to bring any money and was holding up the express line.

 _Well of course she doesn't have money on her_ , thought Amanda, _What kind of princess has to carry money?_

The princess was looking more and more flustered and apologizing to everyone in the line for having wasted their time when Amanda broke into the conversation.

"Can I help?" She reached into her purse and pulled out a five-dollar bill to hand to the cashier. "Oh no, don't worry about it," she went on, waving off the princess' protests. "I remember once filling an entire cart when my first son was just a baby and then having to put it all back when I got to the front and realized I didn't have my purse with me! It's just the worst feeling in the world, isn't it?" She smiled at the cashier and paid for her own items before turning to face the obviously embarrassed woman beside her. She handed her the small paper bag with the cookies that had been the cause of all the trouble, picked up her own bag, and then slipped her arm through the princess's and began to walk towards the siding doors of the entrance, still chattering animatedly and not letting her get a word in edgewise. "There I was, so proud that I had managed to get myself and a colicky newborn out of the house and get something accomplished – and then I had to go back to the house for my pocketbook and start all over again!"

By now they had reached the sidewalk outside and Amanda stopped and turned to smile at the dark-haired woman in front of her, leaning in to say in a soft voice "And I can't even imagine how difficult it must be for a princess to try and find time in a day to go get a bag of cookies!"

Penelope flushed and glanced down at the bag she was carrying, before looking up at Amanda, pure mortification written all over her face. "You recognized me? Oh Lord, this is so embarrassing! I'm not even supposed to be here! My husband is going to kill me!"

"Well, I work for the Agency and they're handling your security this week, so that made recognizing you a bit easier," admitted Amanda. "But I have to admit – I'm surprised to find you here!"

"I'm behaving pretty badly," said Penelope. "I'm supposed to be visiting my grandmother under strict security, but I could see the grocery store from her kitchen window and all of a sudden, I just thought 'It's been so long since I had American cookies,' and the next thing I knew, I'd snuck out the back gate! It didn't occur to me I didn't have money with me – I'm afraid I've gotten used to being able to just walk into a store and point to what I want!"

"Gosh, that must be nice," smiled Amanda. "When I try that, you can actually hear my check book snickering in my purse."

Penelope snuck a look at her face, then relaxed when she could see the genuine humor in Amanda's grin. "It can be," she admitted, "but it certainly would have put a cramp in the royal tour if I'd been arrested for shoplifting back there!"

"Oh it wouldn't have come to that. The worst that would have happened was a put-down from the store manager, Mr. Quigley. He has a very poor opinion of women and their ability to manage money," said Amanda reassuringly.

There was a sudden sound of sirens and several police cars, marked and unmarked raced past the store.

"Uh oh," said both women at once.

"I think they may have realized I'm gone," said Penelope, sheepishly.

"I think they have," agreed Amanda, watching as more squad cars appeared on the horizon. "I don't think it's going to be quite as easy to sneak back in."

"I am going to be in so much trouble," muttered the princess. "I'm really not supposed to go anywhere without my security detail but I just wanted five minutes of being a normal person again, you know?" She caught Amanda's eye. "No, of course you don't know, I'm sorry. It's just that as much as I love my husband, sometimes I just want to be good old Penny again, who can go to the store for her grandmother and not have it be a royal tour. On the inside I'm still her, you know? That girl who grew up in the suburbs and did normal stuff, but now, on the outside I have to be a princess all the time, no mistakes, no normal things. Some days it feels like my whole life is a lie."

Amanda couldn't imagine what it was like to live such a restricted life, but she knew all too well what it was like to have a part of her life that she had to lie about. Looking at the miserable woman standing opposite, she came to a sudden decision. "Well, if you can sneak out, you can sneak back in."

The princess turned to her in astonishment and gestured down the block at the flashing police lights. "How am I supposed to sneak back through that?"

Amanda stared down the street for a minute, pondering that very question. "Okay, well, that green house is the McKinneys and from their backyard, you can slip through the gap in the fence the kids use to shortcut. That will put you in the alley that runs behind those houses and then you could just tell them you popped next door to get something for her."

"Do you think that will really work?" asked Penelope curiously.

"Oh people see what they want to see sometimes. They won't be looking close to the house if they think you've been kidnapped, they'll start a search grid at least two blocks out and most of those policemen won't know what you look like so they'll just have a basic description to go on: brunette, 5'8", light blue sweater…" She stopped abruptly and stepped back to look the princess up and down. She started to laugh and said "Oh that'll work."

"What'll work?"

"Okay, quickly now, swap sweaters with me." Amanda was pulling her pink and white sweater off as she spoke, then pulled her headband off as well. "Okay, slip mine on and use this to pull your hair back into a ponytail or something."

Penelope's face suddenly cleared as she understood what Amanda was up to. She handed her sweater to Amanda and watched as Amanda fluffed her hair into an approximation of her own hairstyle.

"Now, you just walk over to the McKinney's carrying that grocery bag like you belong there and I'll just mosey over there and get their attention to distract them for a few minutes until you can get back in. Ready?"

"Ready, Captain," smiled the princess. "I can't believe you're being so helpful. Why are you being so nice to a stranger?"

Amanda chuckled and ran her hand along her arm "Oh, I'm just in it for the upgrade in sweaters."

The princess burst out laughing and leaned in for a quick hug. "Well, enjoy it. And thank you again."

"Scoot before they see us together," said Amanda, making a shooing motion towards the street. Penelope nodded and strode purposefully toward the corner. Amanda waited until she was crossing the road, then stepped out from behind the station wagon and made a show of walking towards a nearby ice-cream truck. It was only a matter of seconds before she heard the first far off shout that said she'd been spotted and she willed herself to keep walking along the sidewalk as nonchalantly as possible. A few beats later, no less than three police cars had skidded to a stop on the street in front of her and she schooled her expression to try and look surprised.

"We've got her!" one officer was saying into his radio as the officers from the other cars leapt out and began looking up and down the sidewalk for her imaginary kidnappers.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" she asked, feigning innocence.

Behind the officers, she could see the princess disappearing into the McKinneys' side gate with a wave. Biting back a smile, she turned back to the police and spread her hands in apparent confusion. "I'm not sure who you're looking for, but I just wanted to get some ice cream." She pointed at the truck behind them as they looked at her in confusion.

"Ma'am, you can't just wander away for ice cream. Half the cops in Washington are looking for you."

"Why ever would anyone be looking for me?"

The police officer looked confused for a moment, looking her up and down and noticing for the first time that the woman in front of him was wearing scuffed running shoes. "Uh, aren't you the Princess of Zakir?"

"No, she's not," said an unexpected voice from behind her. Amanda winced as she recognized the exasperated tone in Lee's voice. "She's just trouble with a capital 'T'." He waved his badge at the police and then stepped around Amanda and turned to face her, eyes snapping but otherwise almost expressionless. Almost no one else would have been able to tell he was keeping a tight rein on his temper, but the tic in his jaw gave him away and she gave a small uneasy gulp.

"You know her?" asked the officer, still completely confused.

"Yeah, I know her. You keep looking for the real princess and I'll deal with this one," said Lee, still keeping his voice calm as he crossed his arms and glared at her.

"You lost the princess?" she asked, trying to sound worried.

"We didn't _lose_ the princess," answered Lee. "I'm beginning to think she's simply been mislaid."

Amanda pressed her lips together trying not to laugh and watched his brows twitch together in annoyance. "Well, when I mislay something," she finally managed to say. "I always find it in the last place I think to look." She flicked her gaze down the street and back at Lee.

His eyes got a little less stormy and some of the tension left his shoulders. "Officer, can you start by just checking the house again? It could just turn out she'd gone upstairs or something and never left the house at all. Maybe her grandmother is just forgetful."

The police officer shrugged and waved off his compatriots. "Will do."

Lee waited and watched as the police cars backed away from the curb and slowly moved back down the street towards the houses. He turned and brushed his hand up and down her sleeve. "Cashmere sweater with a distinctive Zakirian pattern knitted into it. Where'd you get it, as if I didn't know?"

Amanda bit her lip, and said nothing.

"Okay, so where had she really gone?" he asked finally.

"Just on a little holiday from being a princess," answered Amanda tentatively. "You know, like Audrey Hepburn."

Lee groaned. "Please tell me there's no Gregory Peck in this scenario."

"Oh no, Lee! It wasn't a planned thing, it just kind of happened. There wasn't anyone involved." She bit back a giggle as he glared at her. "Well except for the Keebler elves." Lee kept glaring and she found her voice trailing off. "She just went to the store to get cookies. It's not that big a deal, Lee."

Lee grabbed her arm and began to march her back towards her car. His Porsche was now parked beside it, the slightly haphazard parking job a testament to the speed with which he'd arrived. "That's where you're wrong, Amanda King. It was not just a big deal - it was almost an international incident! We _lost_ the Crown Princess of Zakir! How would we have explained _that_ to her husband? To say nothing of the fact that every assassin with access to a police radio would have known where to start looking for her and you're standing there in her clothes!" His voice had risen to almost a shout by the time they reached their cars and he stood there, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. "I suppose I should be thankful that if she had to run into anyone, it would be you, but why am I not the least bit surprised?"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to aid and abet or anything – she just looked a little lost and I got her home again. She's just a regular person, you know, not like a princess at all."

Lee leaned forward to bang his head slowly against the roof of the station wagon. "You regular people are going to be the death of me, you know that?"

The police band monitor in the Porsche crackled to life with Francine's voice informing all units that the subject of their hunt and been found safe and sound. As they watched the squad cars move away from the house, lights off now, Lee picked up the car phone and dialed.

"You've definitely got the right woman?" he asked Francine when she picked up. "Our boys in blue seem to be having a problem identifying an actual princess."

He held the receiver out so that Amanda could hear her answer as well. "Oh no," Francine was saying sarcastically. "It's definitely the right woman although how she ended up wearing Amanda's favorite sweater is probably going to be a mystery we'll never solve."

Amanda spread her hands and shrugged. "See, no harm done."

Lee's lips pressed together as if he had something to say, but was holding it in. Finally he simply pulled open the driver's door of the station wagon and pointed. "Amanda, just for once, could you stop thinking you're really the Sundance Kid and that you don't have to play by the rules? Now please – _please_ \- just go home and make brownies or something and don't come out again until after this visit is done, will ya?"

"Well, you should probably return this to the princess for me," said Amanda meekly, slipping off the sweater and handing it to him. She waited until she had pulled out of the parking spot to roll down her window and say in her most mild voice, "But just so you know, I'll still have to do that school tour for you tomorrow morning because I'm the only parent with a security clearance." A dark red flush started at Lee's neck and worked its way upward. When he opened his mouth to speak, she jammed her foot on the gas and sped away before he could say something she was _sure_ he'd regret later.


	2. Mind your Peas and Q's

Penelope had been delighted to discover her school tour was being led by her new friend. As they'd walked along the footpath between buildings, she had slipped her arm through Amanda's and said, "Are you really a PTA mom at this school? Well, that is absolutely wonderful! I'd been trying to think of a way to see you again to say thank you!" She lowered her voice and asked, "You didn't get in trouble because of me, did you? That Mr. Stetson seemed pretty annoyed when I explained what happened and what a quick thinker you were."

Amanda glanced over her shoulder at where Lee was pacing ten feet or so behind them. "Oh no, that's just his natural mood. He can be a bit of a grouch but he's quite nice really." She gave him a tentative smile, then wiped it off her face when he glowered back. _Wow, I really am in trouble_ , she thought. _He doesn't usually stay mad for a whole day._

"You really could have kept the sweater, you know," Penelope was joking with her now. "One of the perks of being a princess – you get a lot of free clothes!"

"Oh I couldn't have done that! It wouldn't be right when I was just trying to help you out of a jam."

"Well believe me, I really appreciated it and although my husband was furious, it was a lot easier to get him out of a bad mood and laughing again when I got to tell him about trying to get away from the McKinneys' new golden retriever puppy!"

"Oh my gosh! I had no idea!" Amanda was giggling along with her now. "Did he give you any problems?"

"No, but it made me scream a bit when I suddenly found a wet nose pressed into my hand though. I was lucky that didn't bring the search party down on me. I just gave him a few of the cookies and ran for it, before he could lick me to death."

"Well if you thought he was cute, just wait until you see the baby buffalo you have waiting for you at the National Zoo!" quipped Amanda.

"Oh goody, another one," Penelope answered, rolling her eyes.

"You've gotten more than one buffalo?" asked Amanda.

"Well, not specifically a buffalo, no" answered the princess, smiling. "But I do have a baby giraffe named after me and an okapi."

"What's an okapi?"

"I'm not really sure," admitted Penelope, giggling "It was kind of an antelopey thing with striped legs and it was very cute."

"All babies are cute," said Amanda and watched the smile dim on Penelope's face for just a moment, replaced by something more forced and polite and felt her own smile falter wondering what she'd said.

"Your Highness?" said Lee from just behind them. "It looks like we've run out of time for you to see that earthworm demonstration, we'll have to head back to the motorcade if you're going to make it to the Zoo on time."

Penelope's smile warmed again as she looked at Amanda. "No time for the earthworms? Well, who says prayers don't get answered?"

* * *

 

"Seriously, what is your problem? You've been in a rotten mood since yesterday!" Francine was standing, hands on her hips on the front steps of the Zakirian Embassy, glaring at Lee. "We are at a fabulous party full of the crème de la crème of Washington society and you are looking like someone just took your favorite toy! I usually at least get a crack out of you about blowing my clothing allowance, and tonight, nothing!"

Lee had the grace to look embarrassed. "I know, I know, I'm sorry! It's just there's something about this whole thing that's got my Spidey senses on overload and I can't figure out what it is. Everything looks right but it feels wrong."

"Your Spidey senses?" repeated Francine in a tone of disbelief. "You are such a pessimist! You sound more and more like that fairy tale, you know the one? 'Everyone says this bed of twenty mattresses is so comfortable but poor little Prince Lee can only feel the pea'!"

"Make fun all you want but there _was_ a pea in that story, wasn't there?" Lee jabbed back. "And then Amanda got mixed up in all this and…" he ran his hand through his hair and grunted in frustration.

"What does Amanda getting involved have to do with it?" asked Francine in confusion.

"Really? When has a case ever gotten simpler from having Amanda King wander into the middle of it?" he asked her in an incredulous tone.

"Okay, for one, this isn't a _case_ , it's a straight up security detail job and for two, how many times now has she saved your butt just by showing up?"

"That's the problem!" he groaned. "That's exactly what I mean!" He began ticking them off on his fingers. "Amanda wanders into a gunfight in a train station. Amanda wanders into the middle of an assassination attempt in a hospital. Amanda ends up working for an international gun smuggler and then a pervert who is just lucky he's still walking!"

"Wait, what pervert?" Francine tried to interrupt, only to have Lee sweep it aside to continue his list. "Amanda finds a kid on the street who just happens to be the key to an attack on national security and now, _now_ , she's best buddies with a Crown Princess of an oil rich country because she met her at the _grocery store_ and you're asking me why every single hair on the back of my neck has been standing up for the last twenty-four hours?"

Francine looked at him thoughtfully. "Okay, when you put it like that, I can kind of see your point, but I still think you're overreacting. I mean, we're all here, plus the royal couple's own security staff – what harm could she do?"

"Well, since she's not here – thank God! – none at all. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to knock back this really excellent single shot of Scotch whiskey and then I'm going to play my cover by going over there and hitting on that beautiful woman who just arrived." He waved his arm to where a lone figure in a backless gown with her back to them was chatting with the barman. He drained his glass, then stalked off towards the woman.

"Lee, that's not a woman, I mean, that's... You know what? Never mind," Francine trailed off as Lee walked away. "This I gotta see," she muttered happily to herself and began to skirt the pool to get into good viewing position.

"What are you doing?" said a voice in her ear suddenly, making her jump.

She turned to find Efraim hunched down peering over her shoulder in the direction she'd been staring. Francine slapped him lightly on his chest.

"Beaman! You know I hate it when you do that!"

"So what _are_ you doing?" he asked, grinning.

"I'm watching Lee hit on a beautiful woman," she giggled.

"Haven't you seen that before?" he asked curiously.

"More times than I can count, but this time he's set his sights on that woman in the black dress," she pointed to the figure at the bar.

"Well, she does look very pretty, but why is that funny? Ooohhhhh." Efraim started to laugh as well as he finally realized why she was laughing.

The object of their mirth continued to walk around the far side of the pool, arriving just as the barman handed the woman a tall tropical drink with a beaming smile. He looked up and met Lee's eye who waved his empty glass and nodded. "Another Glenfiddich, please," he said as he admired the way the sparkled straps of the woman's dress accentuated the curve of her shoulder blades and the Zakirian patterned shawl that hung on her arms drawing the eye down to her tiny waist. Her hair was up – something Lee always enjoyed - but with a few tendrils hanging down that gave a hint of what it might be like if it was to come down later. _This evening might not be an exercise in frustration after all_ , he thought, congratulating himself on having spotted her before any of the other men could.

"Yes Sir, certainly Sir"

Lee put on his most honeyed tones and turned to the woman. "You know, I never understood the attraction of those little umbrell-Amanda!" His jaw dropped and he thought his eyes might actually pop out of his head like a cartoon character.

Amanda turned and greeted him with her brightest smile. "Oh hi, Lee! I was wondering where you'd gotten to. I mean, not where you'd gotten to, exactly because I knew you were here somewhere and you were probably working or doing something for security, but I'd seen Francine earlier today and she said this was supposed to be a pretty easy evening for you guys."

Lee turned to look across the pool, stunned expression still in place and caught sight of Francine and Efraim lounging against the bar on the other side, laughing like idiots and toasting him with their drinks. He realized Amanda was still rambling; he barely listened as he looked her up and down, the strappy dress, the high heels, the party make-up, the plunging neckline… Where the hell had this Amanda come from?

"What are you doing here?" he finally blurted out, interrupting her.

"Well, that's just what I was getting to," answered Amanda cheerfully. "Like I said, the princess sent me this beautiful Zakirian cashmere shawl as a thank you for the school tour and for, you know, the other thing." She faltered slightly as he scowled then plunged on, "And along with that, she sent an invitation to come tonight and you know, it's just crazy because one minute, I'm out on the front lawn teaching Phillip how to do a hook slide and the next minute, I'm inside ransacking my closet looking for something to wear."

"Barely wear, you mean" he muttered then kicked himself when her smile vanished.

"Oh, do you think it's too much? I _knew_ I should have worn the blue taffeta my mother suggested but I wanted to wear the shawl and they didn't go together and I don't have a lot of evening wear because well, you know, mother, two small boys, I don't get out much."

"A-man-da!" he finally managed to get a word in edgewise. "You look fine, I mean, you look-" he paused. _Beautiful_ said the voice in his head. "Lovely," he finished with the slightly less enthusiastic adjective.

He glanced over at Francine who now had a slight scowl on her face because, even from a distance, she could tell he'd upset Amanda somehow.

"It's the perfect dress for an event like this," he went on trying to make up for his earlier stumble. "It's just that I was surprised because I've never seen you like this before, you know." He waved a hand up and down in her direction in a vaguely helpless way. "You know, dressed up."

Her smile had warmed again as he'd stuttered through the explanation. "I suppose that's true." She reached out to straighten his tie slightly. "It's kind of like a first date."

"This is not a date!" He had no idea why he'd blurted that out, but for some reason it made her laugh.

"Well of course it isn't!" she giggled. "You're working and you didn't even invite me!"

"No, but I did!" interrupted a smiling voice beside them before Lee could answer. They turned to find the princess beaming at them. She reached forward to kiss Amanda's cheek before holding a hand out to Lee to shake. "I trust you two are having fun?"

"Oh Lee and I never have any fun," quipped Amanda.

Lee turned to stare at her as the princess began to laugh. "What? Never?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"Oh never when he's working," grinned Amanda, "Mr. Stetson takes his job very, very seriously. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pick him up off the floor when he's collapsed from working so hard."

Lee opened his mouth to argue but finally gave a rueful smile in the face of the mischief in her eye. The princess looked back and forth between them for a moment before linking her arm through Amanda's and leading her away. "You, however, are _not_ working, Amanda, and I'd like you to come meet my husband."

Amanda began to protest. "Oh, he doesn't want to meet me! He's a prince and I'm just a housewife."

"And my friend," said the princess firmly. "And that prince was once just a foreign exchange student who married a nice American girl like you so you just think of him as Rheza and it will all be fine. Don't be nervous, now come on."

As the two women walked away, dark heads together laughing, Lee shook his head, chuckling and raised his eyes heavenward, wondering how he had ever ended up with Amanda King in his life. As he did so, the sudden movement of a flock of pigeons taking off from the roof caught his eye and then the glint of the evening sun off something long and thin that looked exactly like –

"AMANDA!" he yelled at the retreating pair. "GET DOWN!" He had barely taken a step towards them as Amanda and Penny whirled at the sound of his voice. In that split second, he heard the shot ring out, Amanda's eyes widened in shock and then she was falling, pulling the princess to the ground as she collapsed, hand outstretched to him as he began to run.


	3. A Royal Appointment

Amanda and Penelope hit the ground, tangled together, both giving off yelps of pain as bare arms, elbows and shoulders hit the rough brick surface. Lee could hear the explosion of voices around him, the royal security guards calling out in Zakirian as they raced to the scene, Francine calling orders at a full military volume voice that brooked no questions, but he never took his eyes off the two darks heads in front of him. It could only have been five seconds between the shot and his arrival at Amanda's side but it seemed like an eternity.

Uncertain whether the shooter had been stopped, he swooped down to try and cover both women with his body, realizing as he did so that someone else was attempting the same thing. He looked around desperate for cover, feeling a surge of relief when he realized there was some close by.

"Get them into the pool house!" he gasped and his companion nodded.

"I have Penelope, you get her friend!"

In a matter of heartbeats, he had Amanda up in his arms, turning to follow the man carrying the princess, who was protesting loudly that she did not need to be carried and demanding to be put down. Once safely under the cover of the pool house, he put Amanda down in a chair and began to run his hands over her trying to figure out where she'd been wounded. She was squeaking in pain and batting his hands away.

"Amanda! Where are you hurt?" he snapped at her.

"My ankle" she answered, bending down to try and rub it.

"He shot you in the ankle?" Lee couldn't believe any hitman could have had such terrible aim but thank God he had.

"No, he didn't shoot me in the ankle," Amanda was scolding him. "When you yelled, I turned around too fast and I fell off my shoe and twisted my ankle!" She smiled slightly as he rocked back on his heels and stared at her in complete confusion. "I told you it's been a while since I got dressed up – I don't think this is what my mother meant when she told me to have a high heel good time tonight."

"You fell off your shoe," he repeated slowly. "You. Fell. Off. Your. Shoe." She nodded in agreement. Lee stared at her for a moment, then down at the foot she was clutching. He didn't trust himself to look back up for a moment, afraid he would begin yelling at her in his relief.

"You may count your lucky stars for her clumsiness," said a voice beside them. Lee looked up as the man who had carried in the princess held up the scarf Amanda had had draped over her arms, and found himself staring at the neat hole where the bullet had passed through it. The relief fled, replaced by a feeling of nausea. The bullet couldn't have missed either woman by more than a few inches. He looked up further to meet the dark eyes of the other man who was looking as shocked as he felt.

"Your Highness!" he gasped as he realized his fellow rescuer was the Crown Prince. He scrambled to his feet and bowed briefly. "Is the princess alright?"

"I'm fine," said Penelope weakly. "Just bruised from the fall."

The prince had dropped to one knee in front of Amanda. "Mrs. King, this is the second time you have been there in time to help my wife. I do not know how to express my gratitude."

"Oh, well that's just silly," said Amanda laughing with embarrassment. "All I did was trip and fall – it was Mr. Stetson shouting that warning that really saved us."

In the next instant, Lee could see it hit her – she really had just been shot at. She went very pale and her eyes went very wide; he put a hand on her shoulder suddenly worried she might faint, and she lifted a hand to rest on top of his, her fingers far too cold for his liking.

"Nevertheless, you seem to be a lucky charm where Penelope is concerned," said the prince taking her free hand to kiss it. "In my country, such a friend is considered to be more valuable than diamonds."

 _In this country too,_ thought Lee.

There was a scuffling sound at the door as someone pushed his way past the phalanx of Zakirian guards.

"Now come on, boys, y'all know who I am, now let me in there to check on the prince and princess!"

Three heads swiveled to see who was coming in, only Amanda, facing away from the door saw the look of distaste on Penelope's face and immediately shifted in her seat to see who had evoked it.

Lee had known there was some kind of connection between the prince and Bo Johnson – they were due to visit his ranch while they were here – but was still taken aback at the familiarity that he was demonstrating, pushing his way past the Zakirian guards, who barely put up a struggle to stop him. Even so, he had to admit to a certain thrill at seeing Johnson in the flesh – he'd grown up watching his old westerns on television on Saturday afternoons and those westerns were just about the only thing he and his uncle had agreed on. A small part of his brain wished the Colonel could be here to meet him, but the agent part of him had kicked into overdrive, wondering what on earth Johnson was doing.

"Rheza! You okay, Son?" Johnson had pulled the prince to his feet, showing none of the sense of protocol of everyone else in the room. Lee could see the Zakirian royal guards looking disapproving but Prince Rheza was smiling and laughing.

"Bo! I'm fine! And so is Penelope, thanks to Mrs. King!"

Bo turned to where Amanda was sitting and grabbed her hand to pump it furiously. "You know, I saw that! You sure are a brave little lady, jumping in front of an assassin like that! Rheza here is like family to me, just like his daddy was and I sure am grateful to you for your quick thinking!""

Amanda looked appalled, as much because now her hand was hurting as much as her ankle thanks to Bo's crushing handshake, but also because despite his praise, she could see that whatever gratitude he was expressing, it wasn't reaching his eyes. She met Lee's eyes and gave a helpless shrug.

"I really didn't do anything – like I told His Highness, I just…"

"Nonsense!" Bo wouldn't let her finish. "Credit where credit's due, Little Lady! All these highly trained agents and guards who are supposed to be protecting them and it comes down to you! Now I know that I, for one, am very grateful and I sure would like to show you how much! How would you like to join us at the ranch this weekend when Prince here is visiting?"

Rheza began to laugh. "Oh Bo, you always make me laugh when you call me Prince that way – it always makes me sound like I'm a German Shepherd!"

Amanda caught the look on Penny's face at that moment – lips pressed together in irritation, eyes blazing with antagonism.

"Oh I don't think I can, Mr. Johnson – you see my youngest boy has Little League and my oldest has a birthday party…" she began to explain only to have Penny interrupt her.

"Oh please come, Amanda! It's been so long since I've had a chance to spend time with a real girlfriend and it would be such fun!" Amanda could tell there was something more to the request than a chance for a girly visit and couldn't resist the plea on Penny's face. She looked at Lee questioningly, but he had on his agent face and she couldn't read him at all.

"Well, ok," she said uncertainly. "But when you say ranch, do you mean like a country house or do you mean like a real ranch because if it's a real ranch…"

"Well, of course it's a real ranch, Little Lady! Bo Johnson wouldn't have anything less than a little bit of Texas right here in Virginia now would I? I mean, we don't run any longhorns, of course, but we do have a herd of cattle and a stable full of some of the prettiest horses you've ever met! Isn't that right, Penny?"

Penny nodded with a forced smile. "That's absolutely true, Bo. Your horses are the best reason to visit your ranch."

Amanda had the feeling Penny meant it was the _only_ reason to visit but she was currently distracted by her own problems. "Well, I'm sure they're lovely, Mr. Johnson, but you see that's another reason that I can't…"Her voice trickled off at the beseeching expression on Penny's face. She sighed and finished the sentence, "that I can't wait to get there and see for myself."

Penny looked relieved and Lee looked slightly annoyed – she wasn't sure why.

Rheza suddenly realized how long they'd been talking and moved to help Penny from her chair. "Darling, we must get back to our guests!"

"Your Highness, do you think that's wise?" Lee asked, startled by their move to the door. "You've just been the target of an assassination attempt – I'm sure everyone would understand if the party was cancelled."

"Oh no, Mr. Stetson, thank you for your concern, but that is why it is more important than ever to show no fear. Isn't that right, Darling?"

Penelope nodded and visibly drew herself up and became royalty again. "I'll be fine, Mr. Stetson. I appreciate your concern but we'll be fine since I'm sure he's been caught by now. But perhaps you could make sure Amanda has that ankle checked out? I'd hate for her to miss any of the fun at the ranch – there are some beautiful trails out there, aren't there, Bo?"

"There sure are!" said Bo agreeably. "I'll look forward to taking you out and showing it off myself, Mrs. King!"

Amanda nodded miserably, then gave Penny a little wave goodbye as the royal couple stepped out of the pool house and back into the sunshine to a round of applause from their guests.

"Okay, Hopalong, I'm going to check in with Francine on the shooter and after the party, I'll get you home so you can start packing for your weekend at Los Pinos since you probably can't drive with that ankle." Lee finally noticed that Amanda wasn't looking as excited about the impending getaway as most people would be. That odd trace of inexplicable annoyance that she thought she'd seen earlier crept into his voice. "Amanda? What's the problem? I'm sure your ankle will be fine by then and even if it isn't, you don't need a good ankle to ride western – it's like sitting on a rocking chair."

"It's not my ankle," she started to explain only for him to interrupt her again.

"Well, it can't be the boys – your mother can get Phillip to the birthday party and I'm sure Jamie will understand you missing a game when you've got an opportunity to spend the weekend with a princess, right?"

She had to smile that he'd actually paid attention to all the reasons she'd listed off earlier. "No, it's not the boys either. They're old enough to understand. No, the thing is…"

She was doomed never to explain as Lee's walkie-talkie crackled to life with Francine's voice – all business.

"Scarecrow, the shooter got away, but Billy wants you to call him asap. Beaman and Fielder have the exits and entrances secured and the embassy staff is taking the other teams over the property again to make sure the house is secure as well."

"Copy that. I'll be there in a minute." Lee hooked the radio back on his belt and turned to Amanda. "Amanda, I'm sorry but I have to go. Do you want to wait somewhere more comfortable until I can drive you to the hospital to have that ankle looked at?"

"Oh I can't stay – The boys have their Thanksgiving play tonight and I promised I'd be home early. Don't worry about it, I'll manage." She pulled herself to her feet, wincing when she tried to put weight on her foot.

Lee looked around helplessly. "No you won't – you can barely stand up. Look, why don't you take a cab, and I'll make sure your car is brought home later tonight. You wait here and I'll go find a waiter or someone who can help you out front."

"That would be great, Lee, but the thing is, about this weekend…"

"Amanda, I gotta go. Stop worrying; just go and enjoy yourself. I'll talk to you before you leave to brief you on protocol and security, but in the meantime, just sit back and think about how much fun it'll be pretending to be the Sundance Kid for real, okay?" And with that, Lee vanished out the door, back to his real job.

Amanda stared sadly at the empty doorway and sighed. "Yeah sure, Butch. But the real Sundance Kid probably didn't sneeze himself almost to death when he got anywhere near a horse though, did he?"


	4. Reining in the Situation

"Scarecrow, listen! There is nothing I can do about it if Bo Johnson has said the Agency isn't allowed on his ranch– he's a private citizen and it's private property. If he's taken responsibility for the security while they're visiting him, then it's a closed book as far as we're concerned."

"No, Billy, you don't understand!" Lee was pacing back and forth in his boss' office, as if he could walk off his frustration. "Someone tried to assassinate the Crown Princess of Zakir right on the grounds of their own embassy last night, they only barely missed her AND Amanda, and now she's going off to a ranch in the middle of nowhere with a hell of a lot less security and every instinct I have is screaming that Amanda has ended up right in the middle of something dangerous – AGAIN – and I know there's something we're not seeing and it's making me crazy! And now you're telling me Bo Johnson won't let us anywhere near the place because he thinks we screwed up the protective detail last time? How can he do that? They are foreign dignitaries and we are their assigned security!"

"Lee, calm down! You're starting to sound like Amanda when you don't stop for breath. Look, I understand what you're saying but I've been on the phone with State Department all morning and they won't budge. Prince Rheza and his wife are visiting Bo Johnson as family friends, not as part of their official visit, which means we have absolutely no jurisdiction to protect them while they're there. And may I remind you, we have no reason to believe that attempt is anything other than a disgruntled Zakirian opposition member! Who else would want the prince or princess dead?"

"That's just it, Billy! We ran checks on everyone that was at the Embassy that day including the roofing contractors and there's absolutely no connection to the Pan-Arab Unity League that we can find. They're just a small opposition group – they aren't the kind of group that goes around hiring professional assassins!" Lee jabbed a finger in Billy's direction. "And don't tell me that wasn't a professional hit! Amanda being a klutz saved both their lives but it was too close and that getaway was too clean for it to be anything but a pro!"

Billy spread his hands helplessly. "You're right, but Bo Johnson practically has his own army out there in addition to the Royal Guard- and there's nothing we can do without a warrant – not that we could get one - if a private citizen forbids us from stepping foot on private property. I'm sure Amanda will be fine – her instincts are good and she's lucky."

"Lucky? Her only luck is consistently showing up in the middle of something she shouldn't be in the middle of! Billy, if there's trouble, she can't even run away on that ankle! You saw her hobbling around here this morning when she came in to debrief! It's a miracle she managed to drive in this morning, even if it is just a walking cast! Are you seriously sitting there calmly telling me that the only Agency presence we can put in the middle of this is an inexperienced untrained crippled mother of two small boys because she's _lucky_? Do you know how insane that sounds? And you know she doesn't even want to go! She's only going because she's too damn polite to say no to the princess!"

"Scarecrow! Would you please stop pacing! You're making me dizzy!"

Billy watched as Lee flung himself into the chair opposite Billy's desk, long legs stretched out in front of him and scowl seemingly permanently etched on his face. Billy leaned forward, fingers linked in front of him and began to lecture him in a paternal tone. "Look, Lee, I do understand that you're worried about Amanda but I really don't think you have cause for concern. She's simply a nice woman who got invited to a party because the princess liked her PTA tour – there's no reason to think that makes her a target. Besides she'll just be spending time keeping the princess company – that alone should keep her safe. It's not like the Crown Princess of Zakir is going to go wandering off into trouble, is it?"

Lee started to answer that, but decided against it. It was probably better for all concerned if Billy didn't know Amanda's _entire_ history with the princess – that was the sort of thing that could cost Amanda her job.

"Billy, she's never a target, but you know she has a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"From what I hear, she was in the right place at the right time at that party. If she hadn't knocked over the princess, we'd be looking at an international incident." He paused, concerned at the expression on Lee's face.

"You weren't there, Billy! When she went down, I thought she'd been..." He leaned forward to drop his head into his hands as Billy cringed – somehow, hearing the story after the fact, he'd missed thinking about those few seconds from Lee's perspective. Lee looked up and went on. "We _cannot_ let her go out there alone. She's too inexperienced to know she's inexperienced and if anyone tries anything again, she'll go plunging into the middle of it without a second thought – you know I'm right, you saw it for yourself with Alexei!"

Billy leaned back in his chair, nodding. "You have a point but I sure hate to lose our only insider at that ranch." He sighed deeply. "You said she was going just to be polite. Do you think you can talk her out of going?"

Lee shook his head miserably. "No. She's determined to go because the princess wants her there so badly. Apparently, Penelope even called her later that night to make sure she would really come. Said she should bring her mother even, but of course she can't do that because her mother doesn't know anything about Amanda's real job. And besides, she needs her to look after the boys." He lifted his head and looked at Billy hopefully. "But if you ordered her not to go..."

"No I can't do that. If the brass found out I scuttled this, they'd have my head. She's our only eyes there." Billy suddenly sat bolt upright, an arrested expression on his face as he caught sight of something in the bullpen.

"Did you say the princess told her to bring a friend if she wanted?"

"Yes" said Lee hopelessly "But Bo Johnson met me – he knows I'm Agency so that's not going to work – not if he's explicitly said no agents on his property."

"He's met you, but I can think of someone he hasn't," Billy had started to chuckle.

Lee turned his head and looked out the office window. Francine had just walked in, dressed to the nines for the party at Senator Holcomb's house that night. "Oh come on, Billy! Francine at a ranch? She'll stick out like a sore thumb. She probably doesn't even know one end of the horse from the other."

"That's where you're wrong, Scarecrow, and you'd know that if you ever read any of her background. Francine was an amateur champion hunter/jumper rider when she was young – she's probably a better rider than you."

Lee looked embarrassed. "Oh. I probably should have guessed that, huh? Private school girls always have horses, don't they?"

Billy stood up and walked to the office door. "Yes they do - and for future reference, I wouldn't try challenging her to a fencing match anytime either." He opened his office door and beckoned Francine over. She waltzed in, in a cloud of perfume and silk.

"What's up Billy? Something I need to know for tonight?"

"No, nothing like that. I was just wondering if you'd like to spend the weekend with royalty? You'd have to be ready to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"Are you kidding me? When would I ever turn down a weekend like that? Where am I headed? London? Monaco?"

"Virginia. Bo Johnson's ranch to be specific. I want you to go in undercover as a friend of Amanda's who's just tagging along. Lee seems to feel she shouldn't be left alone out there."

"Lee's right," said Francine unexpectedly. She shuddered slightly before adding, "I still haven't recovered from her stunt at the motel the other week."

Lee looked at Billy with an "I told you so" expression and Billy rolled his eyes.

"Well, we're all agreed then. Now Bo Johnson doesn't want any Agency presence and he doesn't know Amanda works here, so you're going to have to play fellow PTA mom or something. Can you manage that? Do you even own jeans for a weekend at a ranch?"

Francine lifted a well-manicured brow. "Of course I do. I practically keep Gloria Vanderbilt in her penthouse all by myself."

Lee snorted while Billy grimaced. "I don't mean designer jeans, Francine, you'll need Levis."

"Who's Levi?" asked Francine.

Billy's jaw dropped and he turned to Lee who was looking equally bemused. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"Oh for heaven's sake, you two! I was _kidding_! Of course I own jeans, Billy – I don't spend my entire life dressed like this you know!"

"Good, I'll have Amanda pick you up at your apartment first thing in the morning. It'll make your cover as a fellow housewife more believable if you show up in her station wagon." Billy turned to Lee. "And you go call Amanda and tell her she's bringing a friend after all."

Lee looked like a thousand pound weight had been lifted off him. "Fantastic. Francine, did you ever find anything on the roofing contractor? I still think there had to be some insider info going on there."

"I got as far as finding out it was Endicott Roofing and Efraim's running names through the computer to see what he can find. I've invited my pet IRS guy to come with me to this party tonight – he might have come up with something as well. I'll call you before we leave tomorrow."

Lee jumped up and headed for the door. "Thanks Billy."

"You're welcome." Billy watched him stalk across the bullpen and out the doors, turning towards the elevator, before turning to Francine. "Thanks for this. I didn't think I was ever getting him out of my office!"

"No problem," Francine shrugged. "It's not exactly going to be a hardship spending a relaxing weekend in the country."

"Lee doesn't seem to think such a thing exists when Amanda's around."

"Oh he's absolutely right on that front but if my only job is to keep her out of trouble, it'll be like a spa day compared to dealing with the grabbers at the party tonight."

* * *

 

"Well, that will be just wonderful! No, no I'm sure the princess won't mind a bit!" Amanda glanced at her mother who was pretending that she wasn't listening avidly to Amanda's side of the phone conversation. "No, it will be wonderful to have someone who can do all the driving. Thank you for thinking of it!" She turned her back on her mother and pulled the phone around the corner so she could whisper down the phone. "Yes, I'm sure it will be fine – Penny said I should bring a friend. I'm so glad you thought of asking Francine."

"Penny? You're on a first name basis now aren't you?" Lee could afford to laugh now that he knew Francine would be along to keep an eye on the situation.

"Oh, cut it out! She insists on it and it makes me so uncomfortable. I mean, she's a princess – I shouldn't be calling her by her first name but she's a princess so I can't not do it when she tells me to, can I?"

Lee was outright laughing now. "You're an American, Amanda – you don't have to obey royalty if you don't want to!"

Amanda finally started to giggle as well. "It's all still weird – who ever thought I'd be weekending with movie stars and princesses?"

"You do seem to have a knack for ending up in unlikely places, I'll grant you that. Look, Francine will be waiting for you at her place in the morning – you can drive that far right?"

"Oh yes, the cast has helped with that but I'll be honest, it will be nice to let her do most of the driving."

"Well, she can brief you on her cover while you two drive down there. It's fine for the princess to know she's Agency but whatever you do, don't let Johnson find out – we're persona non grata on that ranch."

"Ok," said Amanda doubtfully. "It seems rude to lie to our host but then again," she added in a rush, "Penny really seems to dislike him so I think she'll be quite happy to have some extra friendly faces around."

"She doesn't like him? I thought he was an old family friend?"

Amanda peeked around the corner, relieved to see her mother had given up and gone out into the garden to work on the flower bed. "No, he's an old family friend of Rheza's father apparently, but he and Penny have been butting heads because she thinks Zakir should be keeping more oil revenue to help their own people, but Bo's oil company has the drilling rights and he's actually angling to get even more revenue not less."

Lee was stunned by the sheer volume of information Amanda had just packed into a single sentence. "How do you know all this? I thought you didn't stay at the party the other night?"

"Well, no I didn't stay but well, you see, she was telling me and Mother..."

The hair on Lee's neck was tingling again. "What do you mean 'me and Mother'?" he interrupted ominously.

"Ahhhh, well, it's like this," Amanda was hedging now, knowing he wasn't going to be happy.

"It's like what?" Lee knew he wasn't going to happy either.

"She kind of came for breakfast at my house this morning," she said all in a rush.

"She WHAT?" Lee had been sitting at his desk but he was on his feet now, yelling down the phone. Every head in the bullpen had swiveled to watch him starting to pace back and forth in the tiny space in the corner of the room.

"Well look, it's not like I invited her or anything, she just got restless and wanted to get out of the Embassy for a while and when we were talking on the phone after the party the night before, she said I should bring my mother and I had to explain that Mother doesn't know who I really work for and besides I needed someone home with the boys but that she was so disappointed she didn't get to meet a real princess and so Penny just showed up." She could hear Lee spluttering on the end of the line. "Oh look, it wasn't my fault and she did bring a bodyguard with her this time so I didn't think I needed to tell you right away and it's not like I could exactly excuse myself from family breakfast with a princess by saying I had to phone the office, could I? And she got back to the Embassy in plenty of time to get ready for their formal stuff today and my mother was so excited to meet her and the boys too and you're not mad, are you?"

She could hear the exhale of breath as Lee seethed quietly. "No I'm not mad," he said finally. "At least not at you. But I might throttle Her Royal Recklessness myself when I see her – how can she pull another stunt like that after the other day?"

"She's not trying to be reckless, Lee – she's just frustrated because she grew up just like us and now she's practically a prisoner in her own house! She just wants to do stuff like normal people. I mean, if you had to live your whole life with nothing but rules, rules, rules all the time, wouldn't you get a little rebellious from time to time too?"

If it hadn't been for the background noise of the bullpen, Amanda might have thought they'd been cut off because the silence was so complete. "Lee?"

"Fine. I won't throttle her, but only because I'm supposed to be keeping her alive," he said finally.

"That's the spirit," said Amanda helpfully. "So is there anything else you need to tell me or can I get back to my dieffenbachia?"

"Your diffi-what?"

"My dieffenbachia. It's very sick and I'm afraid it's not going to make it without me here to look after it. Mother is wonderful with outside plants but for some reason she has a black thumb with indoor plants and this one in particular really seems to have taken a dislike to her."

"A-man-da!"

She stifled a giggle at the mixture of exasperation and confusion in Lee's voice. He definitely wasn't still thinking about the Houdini-like tendencies of princesses anymore.

"I'm sure your Diefenbaker thing will be fine without you – and if it isn't, I'll get Billy to get you another one out of petty cash, okay?"

"Aw, thank you L—Mr Simpson," amended Amanda as her mother wandered back in from outside.

"Can't talk anymore?"

"No, thank you. I'll be sure to collect Ms. Desmond tomorrow morning then. Thank you again for setting that up."

She hung up and turned to her mother with a bright smile. "Well, isn't that nice? IFF got permission to come and cover some of the princess' visit to the ranch this weekend so one of the film people is coming with me and she can do most of the driving down to Los Pinos. So now you don't have to worry about me driving with this cast on."

Dotty's relief about that appeared to be tempered with some envy, however. "I simply cannot believe you get to spend an entire weekend at Bo Johnson's ranch! And keeping royalty company to boot! I mean, just the other day the closest I'd ever gotten to royalty was when I was Homecoming Queen and now my own daughter is practically a lady-in-waiting! Oh how I _wish_ I could go with you! You know, I used to have such a crush on Bo Johnson! Your father used to tease me about it but he never really complained because he liked Westerns so then we both had a nice night out. And besides he had a thing for Lauren Bacall so that made it even – he used to drag me off to the Rialto every time they did a classics night and "To Have or Have Not" was playing. I mean, not that I need to be dragged because that is such a good movie! Have you ever seen it Amanda? It's the one where she says, "you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow…" I mean, what man wouldn't want to come running when Lauren Bacall whistled? She made it so darn sexy!"

"Is that why you and Daddy had that special whistle to find each other in a crowd?" Amanda laughed at her mother, eyes brimming with merriment as she watched her over the rim of her coffee cup.

"Well, that was one reason," laughed her mother, "but really it's just because a whistle carries so much further than a voice. Anyway, Darling, if you happen to be anywhere near Bo Johnson and you just happen to have a pen and paper handy…"

"Yes, Mother, I'll get his autograph for you," smiled Amanda.

"Nothing fancy, just his autograph. Or maybe, you know, 'To Dotty with love' if it's not too much trouble. But just make sure he spells my name right: D-O-T-T-Y _not_ I-E!"

"Mother! For heaven's sake, I know how to spell your name!" Amanda put down her coffee and leaned on the counter with a questioning expression. "Mother, what did you think about what Penny was saying today about Bo and his attitude towards her? I met him at the embassy party and I have to admit he gave me the same kind of vibe. It was all "Little Lady this and Little Lady that. I'm sure it's supposed to be folksy but it was actually kind of irritating."

Her mother looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, of course Bo comes from a different era as far as that sort of thing is concerned but I must say, your father was the same generation, and he was never like that even if he did grow up in North Carolina. _Real_ cowboys know it's the women who really run everything so all that kind of talk is just them trying to keep you sweet, but I'm pretty sure Bo Johnson was actually born and raised in Poughkeepsie so with him it's an act and he's probably still just playing a movie part." She sighed and picked up her own coffee cup, waving it at Amanda. "You know, Amanda, you should never meet your heroes – you're always doomed to be disappointed! Never mind about the autograph – I'll just stick with my girlhood memories before I heard what he's really like."

"Aww, I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't mean to burst your bubble about Bo."

"It's fine, Darling. The thing about getting to my age is you learn to live with those kinds of disappointments from the men in your life." She grinned across the kitchen island. "Besides, I got to meet a right down regular royal princess in exchange and the ladies at the flower club will be so much more jealous of that! In fact, I'm going to take the film from my camera down to the one-hour photo booth right now and get those pictures from this morning developed! I'll get double copies so you can take some with you for the princess!"

Amanda gurgled with laughter. "Mother, I think Penny probably has enough pictures of herself – I mean there's an official photographer who follows her everywhere for one thing!"

"Well, he wasn't following her today was he? And I think she'd like a photo that's just her in a nice normal American house with nice normal friendly people, don't you?"

"You think we're normal?" asked Amanda mischievously. "I'm not sure Penny thinks so anymore after your stories about your little velour cape and crown this morning!"

Dotty's eyes twinkled back at her. "Well, we're a lot more normal than some. Did I tell you the latest about that couple down the street? Edna was just telling me that she's heard a rumor about what the cleaning lady found in their bedside table - "

"Mother!" Amanda jerked her head towards the two small heads in the family room.

"Oh right, never mind. I'll tell you later." Dotty pushed off from the counter and picked up her purse. "Now do you need anything for your weekend while I'm out? Sunscreen? Sunglasses? … Tiara?"

"Oh! Yes actually – could you get me some more antihistamine tablets? I just know I'm not going to be allowed to get through this weekend without being near a horse and you know what I'm like if I haven't taken something first."

"Indeed I do," answered Dotty sympathetically. "In fact, I'll pick you up a couple of those travel packs of Kleenex too."

"Oh that's a good idea. Thank you Mother."

"My pleasure, Darling. If I have to live through you vicariously, I'd rather it not be through a haze of sneezing."

Amanda waited for her mother to go out through the front door and down the path to the sidewalk before picking up the phone again and dialing the number of the Zakirian Embassy, shaking her head at the idea that she had the number for a direct line to a princess.

"Hello, Penny? It's Amanda. No, no, I'm still coming, but you know how I said I should bring a friend? Well…."


	5. Horse Trading

Amanda was pleasantly surprised to see Francine looking quite so much like a 'normal' person when she drove up in front of her apartment block the next morning. Standing on the sidewalk, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and only basic makeup, she was a far cry from her usual fashion plate look. Secretly, Amanda thought she looked nicer than she usually did but kept that to herself. She was just grateful to hobble out of the car and slide into the passenger seat with a sigh of relief as Francine lifted her bags into the back of the wagon.

Francine got into the driver's seat and turned on the ignition, glancing at Amanda's air cast. "Well at least I don't need to worry about you actually running into anything dangerous this weekend. With any luck, the biggest excitement is going to be deciding whether to go for a trail ride or lounge by the pool."

Amanda groaned. "I'm sure Penny's going to make me go on a trail ride. She mentioned it specifically – I think she just likes the peace and quiet away from Bo Johnson though."

"You don't like trail rides? I thought you were outdoorsy"

"Oh I am – and I like the _idea_ of trail rides but horses like me more than I like them."

"You don't like horses?" Francine made it sound like that was almost a crime.

"Oh I love them – from a distance! It's just I'm really allergic to them so after a minute or so of petting them and thinking they're lovely, I can't see them anymore through the tears streaming out of my eyes."

"I can't even imagine not being able to go near a horse – I spent most of my life down at the stables growing up."

"Well, that'll make it easier for us to keep an eye on the princess then – you can just go on the rides instead of me!"

"Speaking of the princess, what have you told her about me?"

"Well, she knows you're coming and I told her you were a friend from work, so she knows you're Agency. Don't worry," Amanda added hurriedly. "She knows not to tell Bo and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure she's even told her husband. She really doesn't trust Bo and she definitely doesn't trust his influence over the prince."

"She doesn't mind that I'm Agency though?"

"Well, I might have kind of told her that I'd invited you along to help check up on Bo," said Amanda apologetically.

Francine grinned. "Well, that might not be entirely untrue. My pet IRS guy thinks Johnson Oil is having some financial problems based on their accounts the last couple of years. Efraim's following up on it now – I've got to call in for an update when we get there."

The rest of the drive to the ranch passed quickly and by late morning, they were pulling up to the front gate. As the massive security gate, adorned with cow skulls swung open to let them in, Francine looked at Amanda and rolled her eyes. "You can tell he's a Hollywood cowboy – this gate looks like something out of Walley World, not Texas!"

With that mental image in her head already, Amanda was hard pressed not to laugh out loud when they pulled up in front of the ranch house and it was an incredibly ornate Spanish villa. It was so over-the-top that it would barely have made sense in southern California but it was ridiculously out of place in the rolling hills of Virginia.

"Wow. I wonder when Zorro is going to show up," remarked Francine, echoing Amanda's inner thoughts, but before she could respond, Penny had appeared at the top of the steps and was rushing down to meet them.

"Oh, I'm so glad you could come, Amanda! And how wonderful that you found someone who could come with you!" she exclaimed as she came down the steps. As she leaned in to hug Amanda though, she muttered in a voice just loud enough to be heard, "And you're just in time to keep me from killing Bo Johnson with my bare hands!"

Amanda's eyes went wide and she tried unsuccessfully to keep in her laughter. "Does Princess Di talk like that?" she asked.

"Oh believe me, she's much worse!" Penny was giggling now too. "You'd be amazed what that girl will say at a state dinner after she's had one too many!"

Penny pulled away and turned to greet Francine. "And you must be Amanda's friend, Francine!" She began to laugh as Francine attempted a slight curtsy – which really looked odd in jeans. "Oh please no, none of that this weekend – this weekend I'm just Penny, alright? I get enough of the royal nonsense back in Zakir!"

"That royal nonsense, as you put it, is several centuries of tradition, my love," said a voice from the top of the steps. The three women looked up to see Prince Rheza walking down the steps towards them, smiling broadly. "You Americans have such a young country," he chided his wife teasingly. "I wonder if I'll ever get you to take our customs seriously?"

"You know I take them seriously, Darling, but only when we're home in Zakir," laughed Penny.

"I suppose I will just have to be grateful that you refer to Zakir as home," he answered, leaning in to kiss her cheek. He turned with hands outstretched to Amanda. "And Mrs. King! How delightful that you were able to join us this weekend. And you are Ms. Desmond?" He bent over Francine's hand to kiss it before straightening up and looking at her appraisingly. "Have we met? You seem familiar."

Amanda and Penny tensed while only Francine managed to appear calm. "Oh, I'd remember meeting a prince! I think I just have one of those faces."

"Oh, I don't think that's true," laughed Rheza. "But you do have a very typical blonde, blue-eyed American look – and we don't see a lot of that in Zakir!"

He began to usher them into the house just as Bo Johnson came around the corner of the house.

"Well howdy there, Little Ladies!" he bellowed. "Welcome to my little piece of Texas heaven right here in Virginia!" He grabbed Amanda's hand and pumped it furiously, ignoring her look of pain at his iron grip. "Mrs. King! I'm so glad you could come along and keep our lil princess company!" He ignored the annoyed looks from all three women at that comment as he turned to Francine. He looked her up and down approvingly. "And well, well, well, what do we have here? You must be Mrs. King's little friend. I'll certainly look forward to getting to know you better this weekend!" The leer he gave her along with the comment did not bode well for Francine having a weekend free of grabbers.

"Oh I'm looking forward to getting to know so much more about you too!" cooed Francine. "Which reminds me – Amanda, don't let me forget to call home later and see how the boys' research project is going."

"I sure won't – I'm sure they're busting to tell you all about it," smiled Amanda. "I know my two can never wait to tell me all about their day."

"You both have children? How charming," said Rheza, continuing to lead them up the steps into the house. "Penny and I are hoping to have our own family some day, aren't we, Darling?"

"Yes, we are," answered Penny, with a brief pained expression. "My husband would like a big family, being an only child himself, but we haven't been blessed yet," she explained to Amanda in a quiet voice.

"Well, you two should be taking advantage of the rest and relaxation this weekend to work on that little project, shouldn't you?" boomed out Bo with a raucous laugh.

Amanda noticed Penny wincing at Bo's innuendo and slipped her arm through hers to give it a squeeze. "Oh, babies come along on their own schedule, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It'll happen when it happens," she said brightly.

Penny looked at her gratefully. "I guess you'd know, since you've been through it twice." She squeezed Amanda's arm back. "Now, let me show you to your room! I told the housekeeper to give you a shared suite – I hope that's ok?"

Francine looked back at where Bo was watching them from the bottom of the steps, watching her with a lecherous expression she was all too familiar with and gave a slight shudder. "A shared room will be perfect," she muttered. "Thank you for thinking of it."

The suite they'd been given was lovely, with a view of the valley, although the décor left something to be desired. Every wall was covered with the mounted heads of dead animals and the floor was covered with the scattered pelts of other animal victims. Francine lifted one of the curtains, and held it out to Amanda, showing her the pattern of an infant Davy Crockett killing a bear. "How charming," she remarked. "Look how the carpets match the drapes! Who does this guy think he is anyway? King of the Wild Frontier?"

Amanda wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Well, he'd like you to think so but from the looks of it, he just kept everything from every movie set he's ever been on."

To Penny's amazement, the next thing Francine did was pull a scanner from her bag to check for bugs and to her even greater astonishment, Francine found one hidden in the flower arrangement and another in the handset of the phone. With a roll of her eyes, Francine dropped the phone bug in a glass of water and moved the arrangement closer to the radio she'd turned on as soon as they entered and beckoned Amanda and the princess into the large bathroom. "We'll leave that live so they don't get suspicious– but we never talk about anything important without having the radio on or unless we're in here, understand? It's possible someone here is watching us just because we're connected to Penny, but they don't know we're Agency and that's the way I like it." She turned to Penny. "You should probably assume there's some in your room as well."

"Do you think it's Mr. Johnson?" whispered Amanda.

"I don't know and I don't like not knowing. It's possible someone has just infiltrated the place so we don't trust anyone until we find out, agreed?" Amanda and Penny both nodded solemnly.

"Okay, so now we go back out and make small talk and actually just try and have the nice girly weekend everyone thinks we're having."

Francine led the way back into the room, turned the radio up to blast volume and began pulling things out of her suitcase, singing along with the music. She pulled out a small box with a bow on it with an exclamation of surprise. "Oh, I almost forgot about this."

"What is it?" asked Penny. "Gift from your boyfriend?"

"Hardly," snorted Francine. "It's some kind of thank-you present from Lee for agreeing to help out here – Efraim brought it last night when he came over." She pulled off the ribbon and opened the lid before giving a choke of laughter. She reached into the box and pulled out a cap gun and a toy sheriff's badge, holding them up as both women started to laugh along with her.

"He thinks he's so cute," said Francine.

"He is cute," said Penny with a smile.

"Not that cute," chorused Francine and Amanda in unison.

Penny looked back and forth between the two friends. "Seriously? Neither of you? He's so good-looking, how do you resist?"

"I didn't resist," answered Francine cheerfully. "But that was a long time ago and I am quite happily dating someone who's his polar opposite. We would have ended up killing each other eventually."

"What about you?" Penny turned on Amanda. "He seemed pretty worried about you at the party; you two must be close."

"Oh yeah, we're friends, but I am _so_ not his type," laughed Amanda. "He likes girls with no strings attached and I am nothing but strings, what with Mother and the boys."

"Are you sure?" asked Penny again. "I only saw those dimples once and I'd still be tempted to take a shot at him - if I wasn't married, of course."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure. His type is blonde and curvy and I'm zero-for-two in those departments," said Amanda cheerfully.

Francine bit back a laugh, remembering how Lee had zeroed in on Amanda at the party before realizing who it was, then joined in on the teasing. "You forgot dumb," added Francine. "He doesn't date the brightest bulbs."

"That's probably your fault," grinned Amanda. "Dated the smartest girl in the room and swore never to do it again." Her smile broadened as Francine gave her a thumbs up, before she turned back to Penny. "Besides, it's exhausting enough being friends with him – I can't even imagine what it would be like to try and go out with him. I'd spend every date waiting for someone to take a pot shot at us." She gasped and her hand flew up over her mouth. "Oh I'm sorry – I shouldn't joke about things like that right now."

Penny leaned over and patted her hand. "Don't worry about it – when you spend your life surrounded by men with machine guns, your sense of humor gets pretty dark pretty fast." She stood up and held out a hand to Amanda. "Okay, how about I show you around the place? I may not like Bo much, but I do love this ranch!"

It turned out that, keeping in mind that Amanda couldn't walk very far, Penny had asked Bo for the use of a golf cart and so they had been able to explore the grounds in some comfort. They couldn't venture far since they had to stay on the pathways, but it had given them the freedom to escape the confines of the house for a while. Thanks to her Benadryl tablets, Amanda was even able to go into the stables, although not with anything near the enthusiasm of the other two. She lingered near the door, Kleenexes in hand and watched as Penny and Francine wandered down the barn aisle, greeting every horse with pets and crooning noises.

"No I don't have anything for you!" laughed Francine as one overeager horse craned his head over the stall door and snuffled her pockets. "I'll make sure I have something next time, okay?"

Amanda had to laugh when the normally elegant Francine turned towards her with a huge green smear of horse spit across her blouse. Francine looked down and grimaced. "They're adorable but they have no fashion sense at all. Good thing I brought a lot of clothes!"

Amanda thought back to the two giant suitcases Francine had loaded into her station wagon and stifled a giggle. "I'll just stay back here where it's safe."

"I'm so sorry you're allergic to these guys," said Penny, gesturing to the stalls. "Here I thought I was giving you a bit of a treat and nothing could be further from the truth!"

"Oh of course this is a treat!" said Amanda. "I never get much time away by myself to just relax. And with this cast on, I have the perfect excuse to just rest by the pool later!"

They walked back out into the sunshine and stopped to admire the view across the valley.

"Have you found out anything about Bo yet?" asked Penny quietly. "He's really been working on Rheza since we got here and I know he's after even more drilling rights! I'm sure he's trying to sell Rheza a bill of goods and meanwhile, Zakir is getting the short end of the deal every time."

"Not a lot yet," answered Francine. "Our contact in the IRS has confirmed that according to their last audit, Johnson Oil is having problems making their loan payments for their drilling equipment, but for the moment, their subsidiary companies are keeping them afloat. We can't see any sign of anything criminal though, unfortunately." She grimaced and added, "But if he smacks me on the ass one more time, one of us is going up on assault charges."

Penny couldn't hold in her snort of laughter. "He used to do that to me too when I was first dating Rheza. Then we got married and the first time he tried it, one of the royal guards 'accidentally' knocked him down for touching a member of the royal family." Her smile broadened at the memory as the other two women laughed. "Definitely the best perk of being a princess."

Francine looked at her watch. "Well I'm about due to check in with 'my children' and I need to change my shirt so why don't I head inside and do that and I'll meet you out on the patio?"

With a wave, she went up to their room, snapping the radio up to a loud volume, double checked the handset for bugs, and then finally, dialed Efraim's desk.

"Hey Cowpoke, got anything for me?" she asked when he picked up.

"Well, hi there, Annie Oakley, how's life among the blue bloods?" he smiled down the line.

"We haven't shed any blood yet, thank goodness, but that may change by the end of the day if a certain geriatric lothario doesn't keep his paws to himself. Please tell me you found something on Bo. I don't even care if it's anything to do with the prince – I just want to get to slap handcuffs on him," she answered.

"Nothing solid yet, but I'm just waiting on one last call back from one of my boys who's down at the Commerce Department doing some snooping. Scarecrow got a call about an hour ago from someone who says he has intel on that assassination attempt – he's headed out to meet him in a few minutes." Efraim twirled a pen between his fingers and stared at the ceiling. "So, Mr. Johnson's giving you trouble?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice.

"Oh don't you worry about me, Toots," she replied instantly. "I've got his number and he thinks I'm just a suburban mom. If anyone is going to have an unpleasant surprise today, it's him."

"Should I be worried about him then?" Efraim grinned.

"Probably, but I'll try and restrain myself to just accidentally breaking his fingers," said Francine cheerfully.

"That's my girl," he chuckled. "Now listen, can you call me back in about two hours? We should have more by then."

"I sure can. Talk to you then." Francine hung up and glanced out the window. She could see someone walking a beautiful white Thoroughbred up the driveway. She knew it hadn't been in the stable when they were there earlier – she would have remembered such a gorgeous animal. She realized the man was leading it around the back of the house and got up to go see where he was headed. She arrived back on the patio in time to see Bo calling Penny down to the garden.

"Now I was friends with the previous prince, God rest his soul, and I'm proud to say that his son is just as good a friend to me as I hope I am to him," he was announcing. "And when he married such a beautiful girl from right here in the good, ole USA, I couldn't have been happier. And now in the spirit of that friendship, I'd like to present his little princess with a little something I trained up myself, just for her!" With a broad gesture, he waved to where the stable hand was leading the white horse out from behind a hedge. "This here is Sultan!"

"Oh Bo, he's beautiful!" Penny exclaimed. Both Amanda and Francine could see that she was overwhelmed, her excitement over the horse only slightly marred by the source of the gift.

"Well, I'm glad you like him, Penny," said Bo jovially. "I thought you'd enjoy having your very own horse to ride while you were here and when you head back to Zakir, I've arranged for him to be shipped there for you!"

"This was so kind, I really don't know how to thank you enough," said Penny shyly.

"Well, you can thank me by riding him while you're here and enjoying yourself, of course. You know all the trails from your other visits, of course, so I won't worry about you getting lost – and this fella can go for miles without tiring." Bo began patting his pockets looking for something. As he pulled some horse treats out, something slim and metal fell to the ground.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get to know each other," said Bo. "Meanwhile, I'm going to kidnap Rheza here for a little pre-dinner cigar," He slapped the prince on the back and went on, "Now come on Rheza – let's leave your little woman to get to know her new boyfriend, hey?" He led the prince off towards the house, leaving all three women exchanging looks of disgust.

"You know, I've been going to congressional parties for years now with men old enough to have fought in the Civil War and I still don't think I've ever met anyone as relentlessly chauvinistic as Bo," remarked Francine.

Penny snorted as she took hold of the bridle. "Well, he may be an ass, but he sure can pick a beautiful horse." She ran her hand up and down the horse's neck, murmuring nonsense words to him, then stepped back to look him in the eye as he nickered quietly.

Amanda had stepped away, unwilling to risk getting too close to the gelding, even with her allergy pills, and looked down, noticing for the first time whatever it was Bo had dropped. She leaned down to pick it up and studied it for a moment before realizing it was some kind of whistle. Raising it to her lips, she gave it a tentative blow. It wasn't very loud or very long but to her horror, it was enough to startle the horse into rearing slightly, pulling the bridle from Penny's hand and kicking out. In twin motion, both Penny and Francine leaped forward to grab the reins.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! It never occurred to me that it would frighten him," she stammered.

"Well, normally something like that shouldn't," said Penny, soothing the horse by running her hand up and down his nose. "He must just be nervous around new people. Is that the problem, boy?" she crooned at him as Sultan continued to dance a little.

"You're probably right," said Francine. "Maybe you should let him go back to his stall and calm down a little and we can visit him after dinner after we beg some carrots or something from the kitchen? Let him get to know you better then?"

Penny glanced at her and realized Francine was gesturing towards the house with a slight nod of her head. It was obvious she wanted to talk to her and Amanda alone.

"That seems like a good idea," she answered immediately. "Could you take him back to the barn for me?" she asked the stable hand who had led Sultan out. "Thank you so much," she added as he nodded and stepped forward to take the bridle.

Upstairs in their room, Francine immediately crossed the room to turn the radio up again then gestured for the other two to huddle in close. "Penny, would you say Bo is a good horse trainer? Or that he has good trainers?"

"Oh yes – he's actually pretty well known for it – it's his favorite hobby after making money," answered Penny. "Why are you asking?"

"Well, Sultan may have been nervous but his heebie-jeebies were nothing compared to that stable hand. When Amanda blew that whistle, I thought he was going to jump right out of his boots – almost as if he knew exactly how Sultan was going to react."

Penny and Amanda stared at her, silently processing what she'd said.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" asked Penny finally.

"Yes – don't get on that horse until we've tested that little theory out, okay?"

Penny nodded. "It just doesn't seem possible that Bo is trying to hurt me though." She looked between Amanda and Francine, suddenly struck by a thought. "Should I tell Rheza?"

The other two exchanged a look of their own. "Well, that's up to you," said Amanda. "But maybe wait until we have more proof than just a bad feeling?"

Penny nodded again, still looking worried.

"And as much as you're going to hate hearing this…" said Francine.

"Don't go anywhere alone?" sighed Penny, shoulders sagging when Francine nodded. "Okay. Thank goodness you're both here – at least I can insist on spending all my time with you."

"And Rheza," added Amanda. "You should try and keep Bo from dragging him off for any more man-to-man talks until we find out if it's only you he's trying to hurt."

Francine glared at her for her blunt assessment of the situation but rather than frightening Penny more, it seemed to make her angrier. She drew herself up straight and looked back and forth between them. "Rheza's family has been helping that man line his coffers for twenty years and this is how he repays it? I'm going to kill him!"

"Alright, let's get a hold of ourselves before this turns into weekend at the OK Corral, ladies" scolded Francine. "I have to call Efraim again in an hour or so for the next update – let's all just keep calm and act like everything's fine until then, shall we?" She looked back and forth between the two brunettes. "So, who's up for a nice afternoon at the pool?"


	6. A Royal Warrant

Lee shook off the paramedics that had arrived along with the firemen and hauled himself back into the Agency, considerably more singed than when he'd left an hour earlier. When he bolted into Billy's office and found it empty, he looked around wildly until one of the girls pointed helpfully down the hall and said "Try Analysis."

He burst into Efraim's workspace a few moments later, ignoring the shocked looks from Beaman and Billy at the state he was in.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he pre-empted their questions with a wave of his hand. "But Parker wasn't so lucky. I just pulled him out of a burning building but it wasn't the fire that killed him."

"No?" queried Billy.

"No, I think it was the bullet hole between his eyes that did that," answered Lee. He began hauling things out of his jacket pocket and dumping them on the desk. "But fortunately I had time to check him over before the cops got there to look for anything to do with what he was trying to tell me."

"You stole evidence from a crime scene?" asked Efraim disbelievingly.

"Hey – I'm trying to prevent an international incident here, let's not get fussy about the details, okay?" Lee started pawing through the wallet, pulling out IDs, credit cards and various scraps of paper.

"Oh I do love a pack rat," said Efraim getting into the spirit of things and picking up pieces of paper to study them. "They make an analyst's job so much easier." He held something up with a grin. "Bingo! Paystub for Endicott Roofing."

"A receipt for gas from Buena Vista, Virginia," said Billy holding up another slip of paper. "Why does that sound familiar?"

By sheer force of habit, both men turned to look at Efraim, but it was actually Lee who got there first. "Oh crap, I think I know." He reached over to a nearby bookcase and pulled out a book of road maps, flipping quickly to the right page. He pointed to Buena Vista and looked up at Billy. "It's the town closest to Los Pinos." He began pacing across the room, throwing his hands up. "See? I told you so! Amanda _always_ ends up in the middle of something dangerous!" He skidded to a stop as he caught the other two men exchanging a look. "What? What's that look for?"

"That's not all we have, Scarecrow," said Billy. "Delaney just got back from the Commerce Department; not only is Bo Johnson about to be taken down by over-financing and pending lawsuits, but it also turns out Endicott Roofing is one of his subsidiaries."

Lee looked back and forth between Billy and Efraim. "So he's responsible for the hit at the Embassy?" he asked in an ominously quiet voice. "We've sent Amanda and Francine off to the middle of nowhere to stay with a guy who, by your own description, practically has his own army and now it turns out he's the guy who's responsible for the whole thing?"

"Yes," said Billy, baldly. He held up a hand as Lee started to speak again. "And before you even think of racing off down there, you aren't going to do a damn thing until I get hold of a judge and get you a warrant for you to enter the property, do you hear me? Now Francine is due to call in any moment now and we'll brief her. No one there knows she's an agent so that gives her an advantage, alright? Now step aside and let me go start rattling some cages to get that warrant."

Lee moved out of the way silently and watched Billy leave. He turned to Efraim and said simply "You coming with me?"

"Oh hell yeah."

* * *

 

Francine hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment, gathering her thoughts about all the information Efraim had just given her. She looked up to find Amanda watching her patiently and tossed her head towards the bathroom, walking in and closing the door behind them.

"We were right?" asked Amanda.

"We were right. Bo is up to his neck in bad deals and if he doesn't get those new drilling rights, he'll lose everything. If Penny is working actively to prevent that and he knows it…" she shrugged. "He's desperate – and that's the most dangerous man there is." She sat down on the edge of the tub and pulled her small pistol from her ankle holster as if checking it would calm her down. "The Agency is working on getting a warrant and then they're sending a team down. They're trying to keep it low key and out of the press in the interests of American-Zakirian relations. But in the meantime, the K-9 squad doesn't let Penny out of our sight, right?"

"Right." Amanda agreed. "That should be easy if it's only for a little while longer." She paused and asked idly, "So who's Mr. Melrose sending?"

"Who do you think?" snorted Francine. "Apparently he's mad as stink that Billy didn't listen to him in the first place about his Spidey senses. The only reason he isn't already here is that Billy's making him wait for a warrant so he can't legally be kept off the property."

"Oh."

Francine looked up at her from her perch on the tub's edge. "Oh? I thought you'd be happy to see him."

"Oh I will be," said Amanda, sighing. "It's just that I know he's going to act like somehow this is all my fault – like everything would have been just fine if only I hadn't found Penny in that grocery store."

"Why would he be mad at you? That doesn't even make sense."

No," agreed Amanda sadly. "It's just that he always yells at me like I do with the boys when they do something dangerous and don't get hurt."

"Don't you yell at them when they do get hurt?" asked Francine with interest.

"Oh no, you can't do that – that just makes them cry more. But boy, when I get in trouble with Lee, it's just like I've done something naughty. That day by the grocery store was the maddest I've seen him since Honeycutt Typewriters." She shuddered at the memory of that lucky escape.

"What happened at Honeycutt?" asked Francine. "Did I miss that case?"

"Oh it wasn't a case – that was the job I went to after Connie Beth, remember?" Francine nodded. "Well, it turned out the head of Personnel didn't hire me for my typing skills, if you know what I mean, and Lee walked in just as he was demonstrating that."

"Hoo boy!" breathed out Francine. "Wait – is that the perv Lee told me about?"

"Probably," shrugged Amanda. "There's only been the one, thank goodness, and I had just stomped on his instep and escaped – the perv, I mean, not Lee – when Lee showed up and practically picked him up and tossed him across the room." She grinned slightly at the memory. "That was pretty great but then he dragged me out of there and I mean really dragged me – I probably still have the bruises. He was mad then too." She shrugged and went on, "So I'm pretty sure he'll yell at me for being in the middle of this one too."

"Yeah, probably," agreed Francine. "But I'm still happy he's the one coming down here. Bo will never know what hit him."

"Literally or figuratively?" asked Amanda, starting to laugh again.

"Both. Now let's go find Penny."

They found her just coming out of her room and her shoulders sagged at the look on their faces. "We were right?" she asked, unconsciously echoing Amanda's words from earlier. They nodded and she straightened up, letting the anger show on her face. "Rheza's already downstairs, but as soon as I can get him alone, I want you to come and brief him on everything you know." Her voice had taken on a stern tone as she delivered the order. For the first time, Amanda could really see what Penny was like as a princess – it was like she had taken on some kind of invisible cloak of royalty when confronted with an enemy.

Penny looked at them, eyes bright with a martial light. "Alright, Ladies, let's go." She turned and began to walk towards the stairs, leaving Amanda and Francine to scramble to catch up with her. As they came down the stairs, Bo walked up to greet them.

"Well, ain't that a purty sight, all three of you lovely ladies together?" Amanda bit her tongue at the overblown accent, remembering what her mother had said about Bo growing up in Poughkeepsie.

"Did y'all have a nice time today? I hope you had a chance to relax and enjoy yourselves. You know what they say, Princess, sometimes you just need to lay back and let nature take its course – maybe we can get you relaxed enough for you to finally make that baby Rheza's been pining for, whatta you say?"

Amanda felt Penny tense beside her and knew Bo had found her Achilles heel with unerring accuracy. She lifted a hand and placed it in the small of Penny's back to steady her. The princess relaxed slightly but remained on alert for the next onslaught, but it was Francine that Bo turned his guns on next.

"And look at you, Ms. Desmond, all sun-kissed and looking good enough to eat! Are you sure you're taken? Because I sure do enjoy a woman with curves in all the right places like you!" His eyes raked Francine without ever looking any further up than the top button of her shirt.

Amanda bit back a laugh at the backhanded insult he had managed to deliver to her and Penny even as she watched Francine's annoyance levels rising. When it looked like Bo might actually make a move to put his arm around Francine's waist, she knew she had to intervene before he ended up prematurely injured. That could wait until Lee showed up with the arrest warrant, but in the meantime…

"Mr. Johnson, I almost forgot to ask," she cooed, stepping out in front of the other women and starting to dig through her purse. "I was wondering if I could get your autograph?" She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and handed them to the preening ex-movie star.

"Well, of course you can, Little Lady!" he boomed. "How would you like me to make it out? To Amanda?" he lifted his pen and started to scrawl.

"Oh no!" she interrupted him. "It's for my mother – could you make it out to Dotty with love? D-O-T-T-Y, not I-E."

"Your mother?" he asked doubtfully. "Oh, well, of course, I do have fans of all ages!" he laughed

She waited until he was done and was handing it back to her before adding in her sweetest voice. "Thank you so much. She'll be just thrilled and so will the ladies in her Seniors Club." She paused again for effect before adding, "She told me she's loved you since she was just a little girl and her mother used to take her to see your movies!"

Bo's face flushed unbecomingly at the double-edged compliment and he couldn't stop the momentary scowl. "Well, that's sure nice to hear," he ground out. He looked from woman to woman but was met with only the most innocent of looks. "Let's go find your husband, Princess. This cowboy could do with strapping on the feedbag soon." He turned and stalked away, leaving all three women shaking with the laughter they hadn't let out in front of him. Francine held up a hand to Amanda who quietly high fived it behind Bo's back.

"God bless you, Amanda King," murmured Penny. "I have never enjoyed a conversation with Bo so much in my life."


	7. Heirs and Graces

"He's completely detestable!" Penny flung herself into a chair in her room. She'd invited Amanda and Francine to join her for a nightcap – and a strategy session – after Bo had outmaneuvered them and taken Rheza off for a post-dinner cigar in his study.

"Does the prince really not notice the way he's always putting you down?" asked Amanda as she sank into a chair opposite her.

"He thinks it's just Bo being a folksy Texan and tells me I'm overreacting," said Penny in a longsuffering tone.

She and Amanda watched Francine complete the scan of the room and give them the thumbs up once she had picked up a flower arrangement and moved it out onto the balcony. She pulled the door closed and came to perch at the end of the bed.

"He's doing a good job of cutting the ground out from under you though," Francine remarked. "He sounds like he's so worried about you but every comment about how little and frail you are and how much he's looking forward to another little prince to play with really makes you look inadequate."

"You don't need to tell me," groaned Penny. "I have a graduate degree in International Politics and I've been working non-stop for three years to improve the lives of women in Zakir and yet somehow, my entire worth seems to boil down to whether I'm ever going to produce an heir for the throne." She wiped a hand across her eyes. "And I want to – so badly – but it doesn't seem to want to happen and Rheza tries to be good about it but I can see that look in his eye every month when it's clear I'm not pregnant." She gave a hiccupping laugh. "It sure ruins the mood when being intimate with your husband starts to turn into a chore."

Unexpectedly, it was Francine who was first to respond. "I can't even imagine that kind of pressure. I thought it was bad that I had to outperform everyone in my Agency classes to be taken seriously, but to be expected to produce an actual human being just to be considered successful? That's positively medieval."

"Do you want kids?" Penny asked her. "Or are you a happy career woman?"

"I don't know," shrugged Francine. "I never really thought about anything except proving myself for so long that it was never an option and since I'm still single…"

"I think Efraim would disagree with that remark," commented Amanda with a giggle.

"Since I'm not _married_ ," Francine corrected herself, smiling back. "Anyway, I don't think kids are for me – they seem to require a lot of attention and anyone who knows me knows I like to have _all_ the attention."

"They do require a lot of work," said Amanda, "but they're mostly lovable enough to make it worthwhile."

"Mostly?" laughed Penny.

"99% of the time," Amanda's dark eyes twinkled back at her. "And then there's that 1% when they both come down with the flu and your husband is several thousand miles away and you spend all night washing sheets and shuttling them back and forth to the bathroom."

"Ugh – you're not making it sound very attractive Amanda, even if it is only 1% of the time," remarked Francine.

"Yeah but then there's next day, when they're feeling better and they've had a bath and they just want to snuggle on the sofa with you and they're all warm and they smell nice and you forget that you haven't slept or that you've already watched this movie a dozen times…"

"Sounds like heaven," said Penny softly.

"It'll happen," said Amanda encouragingly. "You just need to let go of the outside pressures – forget about any possible result and just enjoy the moments with your husband."

"Easier said than done when it's turning into a national crisis," said Penny bitterly.

"Well, you're on holiday this weekend," said Amanda. "When Rheza comes upstairs tonight, tell him this is a second honeymoon. Maybe wear a sexy nightgown so he doesn't misunderstand you. That always worked when I was having problems with my ex. Well, it did - right up until nothing worked," she added with a laugh.

"Sexy nightgown, hey? You think that'll work the magic?" Penny couldn't help laughing along with her, even as she wiped tears away.

Amanda and Francine nodded vehemently. "There is never an occasion where that isn't going to work," replied Francine with great certainty. "And he'll certainly be too busy trying to prove that it's even better once the nightgown is off to think about anything else."

The three women burst into laughter, interrupted by a light knock on the door. Francine gestured for Amanda and Penny to stay where they were before going to answer it.

"Who is it?" she asked through the closed door.

"I am sorry to disturb you," came the voice of the Zakirian guard who was stationed outside, "but there is someone here with a message for Her Royal Highness."

Francine unlocked the door and swung it open, only to be confronted with the sight of Bo's right hand man, Earl, knocking out the young guard he'd been holding at gunpoint. She moved to swing the door shut again, but Earl was too quick for her, throwing his full weight against it, sending it flying open and knocking her to the floor. As a stunned Amanda and Penny watched, Francine went for her ankle holster only to have Earl lean down, grab her by the front of her shirt and punch her hard enough to knock her out instantly. Two armed men followed him into the room, guns trained on Amanda and the princess.

"What the hell?" shouted Penny, leaping to her feet. "Guards! Guards!"

"You can shout all you want, Missy, but there ain't nobody going to hear you," said Earl. "We've been picking off your boys all day – they can't help you now."

"You've killed them?" asked Penny in a stunned voice.

"Oh no, we've just detained them for a while. They'll be fine once Bo gets what he wants. And so will you, as long as you behave." He reached out to grab Penny by the arm, obviously prepared to drag her from the room.

"Are you crazy? I'm not going with you," shouted Penny, pulling away from him.

"Oh, I think you are," smirked Earl, cocking his gun and pointing it at Amanda. "And I think we'll be bringing your friend along to make sure you don't cause us any more problems."

Penny gave Amanda an anguished look. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't even be here."

"It's going to be okay," said Amanda soothingly. "Let's just do what they want – I'm sure Bo isn't going to be foolish enough to let anything happen to you on his property, is he?" She directed the last question at Earl.

"Only if he can make it look like an accident like he's planned," leered Earl. "Sure is a pity that new horse of yours is going to turn out to have a mean streak."

The two women exchanged a long look. "It'll be okay," repeated Amanda. "Someone will come for us."

Penny looked slightly relieved at the subtle reminder that Lee was on his way. She drew herself up to her full height and stared haughtily at Earl. "Is my husband safe?" she asked him.

"Oh the prince is just fine – Bo needs him alive, after all, to get those drilling rights. Bo ain't going to pee in his own pool, is he?"

Penny nodded curtly, but then asked, "And what about me? Does Bo need me dead or alive?"

"Don't much matter to him as long as he gets your husband to agree to his terms," answered Earl laconically. "So whether you and your friend here get to go home again is entirely up to you."

Amanda hobbled closer to Penny and laid her hand on her arm. "Just do what they say." She stared at Penny, willing her to hear the unspoken _For now_ in her request. Penny stared back, obviously seeing something calming in her wide dark eyes.

"Fine," she said. "Where are you taking us?"

"Oh you're not even going to leave the ranch," chuckled Earl. "We've got a nice little place set up for you up in the hills at the old homestead."

He gestured for the two women to leave the room. As they stepped forward, Amanda dropped to one knee to check on Francine who was still splayed out on the floor. To her relief, she was breathing evenly although her cheek and jaw were already swelling from Earl's blow. She squeezed her hand hoping that somehow even in her unconscious state, she'd take some comfort from it.

"Come on, move it!" said Earl gruffly, pulling Amanda back to her feet.

"Are we going far?" she asked in what she hoped sounded like a suitably whiny voice. "My ankle isn't going to last long if I have to go very far."

"Oh, you won't be walking far – the horse will be doing all the work getting us up to the old ranch. Those trails can be treacherous if you don't know them well," grinned Earl.

"The horse. Why did it have to be a horse?" muttered Amanda to herself, limping out of the room behind Penny.


	8. Battle Royale

"So Rheza, you see, I really need you to agree to those new drilling terms or poor old Bo is going to be in real financial trouble. And our families have been friends for long enough that I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" Bo waved his cigar at the prince with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Rheza spread his hands and shrugged. "Now Bo, you know I need to think of my country before my friends, no matter how good a friend they have been to me. Your suggested terms will take too much oil out of Zakir for too little return. You know Penelope was right at dinner about our need to protect our most vulnerable subjects in the modern world."

"Yes, your little princess has a lot of opinions about such things, doesn't she? Including me – I get the feeling our little Penny doesn't like me much" said Bo, irritation showing in his voice even as he tried to pretend to laugh it off. "You should learn to control that filly of yours. I'm sure once she has a little prince or princess in her belly, she'll stop trying to interfere with how you run your country."

"Oh well," laughed Rheza with some embarrassment, knowing Bo was right about Penny's opinion of him. "She's a very intelligent woman with a lot of insight into social problems. And of course, I am proud to have her help me rule my country. I married her because I love her, but I love her because of her passion for doing the right thing for our people."

Bo leaned forward and pointed a finger at Rheza. "Well, the right thing for you to do for me is to sign those new oil leases."

Rheza shook his head. "I'm sorry, Bo, but I simply cannot. It would not be good for Zakir and that must be my first consideration."

There was a knock at the door and then one of Bo's ranch hands ducked his head in. "All done, Sir" he said and withdrew.

"Good! Good!" said Bo, rubbing his hands together. "Now Rheza, what if I were to tell you that it would be very much in your interest to sign those leases in the next 24 hours?"

"I'm sorry, Bo, but I can't see how that would be true."

"Well, it will certainly be in the interest of your princess then. I've arranged for her to go on a little vacation without you and whether or not she comes back from it is entirely up to you."

Rheza stared at him in disbelief. "What are you saying? What have you done to her?" He leapt to his feet, shouting as he ran to the door. "Guards!" He flung open the door, expecting to find one of the royal guards as usual but instead found only two of Bo's men staring at him balefully, hands on their side holsters. He turned back to stare at Bo. "Where are my men? And what have you done to Penny?" he asked again.

"Your men are all safely locked up in the basement, and as for your princess, I haven't done anything to her. Yet," grinned Bo, lighting up yet another cigar. He blew a smoke ring and looked at Rheza genially. "But I can't say what will happen without those leases. She might have a terrible accident, for instance. This part of Virginia is just a hotbed of things that can go wrong. Trails giving way, horses spooking, poisonous snakes… sure would be a pity if she were to run into any of those things. In the meantime, my men have taken her somewhere for safe keeping."

"Are you insane?" breathed out Rheza, realizing even as he asked that there was no other explanation for it. Bo couldn't seriously think that he would simply sign away his country's assets without a fight, could he? Even if he signed any paperwork tonight, he could easily renege on it later, claiming duress.

"Crazy like a fox," answered Bo. "I have loans coming due on Monday and without those leases to act as collateral, the banks will take everything and if I go down, then my companies go down and we take Zakir with us."

The wild light in his eyes told Rheza he absolutely believed that to be the truth. He realized he needed to tread carefully if he was going to keep Penny safe. "Bo, my old friend, even if I sign those rights over to you, do you not think the Zakirian people will rebel against it? How would I justify it to them? They will demand my abdication."

"I'm sure you'll find a way. You could kill two birds with one stone if you say Penny forced you into it. I'd have my oil and you'd have your throne and a built-in excuse to rid yourself of a brood mare who ain't producing. I mean, really Rheza, you should have picked better breeding stock."

Rheza's lips thinned as he pressed them together – the only sign he showed of his inner rage. It occurred to him that the longer he kept Bo talking, the more likely it was that help might arrive.

"You might have a point there, Bo," he answered slowly. "Why don't we have another drink and discuss that?" He sank slowly back into his chair and waited for Bo to do the same. As Bo began to outline exactly what he wanted and how the prince was going to give it to him, Rheza's mind was racing trying to figure out what he was going to do to save his wife.

* * *

 

Help was closer at hand than Rheza realized. Francine had slowly come to upstairs, wincing at the pain in her jaw and gingerly running a hand over her face, trying to assess the damage. She groaned at the telltale swelling as she pulled herself upright. Experience in similar situations told her that the level of swelling meant she'd been out for at least half an hour, probably more. She checked her ankle holster – her gun was still there so it seemed likely Bo's man hadn't realized she was an agent. _Which will probably mean no guard either_ she thought. She moved to the door and quietly opened it, giving a silent cheer when she did in fact find an empty hallway. She slipped down the hall, gun in hand, peeking around corners until she reached the top of the stairs. She could see two of Bo's men in the foyer, obviously standing guard outside Bo's study. _So Bo is in there_ she conjectured _but who is with him? They wouldn't have knocked me out if they were only taking Penny – and why have they taken Amanda as well? And where were all the Zakirian guards? Were they in on something? Was this a coup?_

She pressed her lips together in thought, wincing as she recalled her split lip a little too late. _Backup_ , she decided. _Backup first, exploration second_. She slipped back down the hall to her bedroom and locked herself in before dragging the phone into the closet for added safety. She dialed the main number for the Agency, praying that whoever was on night duty wasn't a rookie.

"Melrose" came the most welcome voice she could have heard.

"Billy? Thank God," she croaked.

"Francine? What's wrong?"

"I need help – and fast." As quickly as she could, she outlined what had happened, Billy's questions helping her collect the thoughts scattered by the pain of her throbbing cheek.

"Scarecrow and Beaman left an hour ago – they should be there soon." Francine closed her eyes in relief at hearing how close her backup was, and then realized Billy was asking her something.

"I hate to ask but do you think you can safely do some reconnaissance before they get there so they know what they're walking into? I don't want them walking into a situation and making it worse if this is a coup."

"I'll do what I can," answered Francine. "If you don't hear back from me, send in the army, okay?"

"You go it," replied Billy, instantly. "And Francine? Be careful."

She hung up and eased her way back out of the closet. The front stairs weren't an option, but if her instincts were right, there would be back stairs as well. She slipped down the hall, sighing with relief when her guess proved correct. Tiptoeing down the stairs, she found herself outside the kitchen, ducking back behind a corner as someone emerged from what appeared to be a basement door and walked into the kitchen, greeting someone as he went.

"The prince's men are all still secure," he said to whomever was just out of sight. "But boy, are they pissed. I sure don't want to be around when we let 'em loose later."

 _So not a coup – or at least not a Zakirian one. That makes this easier_.

Francine made her way along the hall, listening carefully to the conversation in the kitchen as she went. It soon became apparent that whatever was going on, it was Bo who was pulling the strings, with Earl as a willing accomplice.

"I thought that other woman was never going to stop sneezing," a third voice was guffawing now. "I was sure Earl was going to punch her lights out too until that princess got up in his face and told him to back off. She's a pistol that one!"

"Is he coming back tonight or waiting for sun up?"

"He said he was going to get them all comfy and leave them locked up. Bo wants him back before morning," came the response. "Him and that prince fella are still locked in there – he must not have gotten what he wants yet."

Francine eased the basement door open, holding her breath and listening for sounds of pursuit as she moved down the stairs. Turning a corner, she found herself facing a wall of cells, like a scene from an old Western film. "What kind of nut has a prison in his basement," she muttered to herself. She moved forward quickly, causing a dozen Zakirian heads to swivel towards her.

"Hello, Boys," she said. "How about we bust you out of here and go rescue the prince?" It was obvious only one of them spoke English as he broke into a grin, and she recognized him as the one who'd been outside Penny's room but the others were soon smiling equally broadly as she found a piece of wire and began to pick the cell locks.

"Shhhh," she urged, holding a finger to her lips, then pointing to the ceiling. She turned to one who had understood her before. "Tell them to keep quiet until we can get upstairs and surprise the bad guys."

He turned immediately to his fellow guards and said something curt in Zakirian which made every man lapse into complete silence and turn as one to face Francine. "They are yours to command, My Lady," he explained simply.

She couldn't help the grin spreading across her face. "Well then, let's go kick some ass," she said happily and began to quickly sketch out her plan.

* * *

 

It was the sound of gunfire that finally alerted Bo to the fact that his plan might not be working out quite the way he wanted. When the study door flew open and the man who had been guarding the door gasped out "Them ay-rabs are loose!", Bo had let loose a bellow of rage. He pushed Rheza aside, knocking him to the floor as he ran for the door to see for himself. He looked down the hall to see a wall of angry Zakirian guards coming towards him as Rheza began calling out to them. Bo slammed the study door shut and locked it, looking around wildly before bolting for the French doors and vanishing into the night.

Rheza scrambled to his feet and ran to let his guards enter the room, followed by Francine, brandishing her pistol. He raised a brow at this unexpected twist. "Well, you weren't the cavalry I was expecting," was all he could think to say.

"I'm Agency, Your Highness. I'm sorry we couldn't tell you before now, but right at this moment, I'm more interested in finding out where Bo is," she responded in a curt tone.

Rheza gestured to the open French doors. "He left that way, but I'm not sure where he was headed. Do you have any idea where Penny is?" he asked frantically.

"No, but he's taken them somewhere else," replied Francine. Seeing the question in his expression, she added, "They took Amanda as well and I heard some of his goons talking about them being taken to another location."

She looked around for the phone. "I have to call for reinforcements. You get your men to secure the property - and stay put!" she added as she saw him open his mouth to protest. "We're already missing one member of the royal family, we don't need to lose you too!"

Rheza nodded miserably, knowing she was right. Francine picked up the phone and dialed Billy's number. Before he could answer she handed the phone to Rheza and ordered, "You tell Mr. Melrose everything we know – I'm going to go see if I can figure out where Bo's gone!"

She headed out into the hall, crossing the foyer and out onto the front steps. She spotted the Zakirian guard who spoke English. "What's your name? Inam? Ok, Inam – you get some of these guys to start searching every building around the house and see if they can find Mr. Johnson. And you come with me and bring some men – I want to get a guard on the front gate in case he tries to get out that way."

Which is why, when Lee and Efraim drove stealthily up to the gate, headlights off, forty-five minutes later, they found themselves instantly surrounded by Zakirian royal guards, all pointing rifles into the car. As they raised their hands and slowly obeyed the angry gestures to leave the Porsche, they exchanged a look, wondering how on earth they were going to get out of this one. Lee was still calculating and recalculating possible escape routes when they were ushered into the study to find Francine and Rheza poring over something on the desk. He heard Efraim's hiss in tandem with his own at the sight of the massive purple bruise still swelling on her face as Francine turned to greet them with a huge smile. "Hey, Boys! What took you so long?"


	9. Here Comes the Cavalry

"We started with the barn because one of the guys commented about Amanda sneezing, and there's at least three horses missing. We're certain they're still on the property because Bo wouldn't have moved Penny far for his crazy plan, but the ranch is 400 acres and most of it is hills, so it's not an easy search area. We'll need to wait for it to be light." Francine was bringing them up to speed as she outlined the ranch on the map in front of them. She glanced at her watch. "So we have about another hour and a half before we can start really hunting."

"This is an original homestead, up here to the north," commented Rheza, pointing to some ordinance markings on the map. "It seems the most likely place to start looking. Bo took us on a trail ride up there once for a picnic. It hasn't been used in years and any old roads have long since disappeared – you can only get to it on foot or horseback now. From what I remember the trail is pretty narrow and treacherous."

"What kind of layout is it?" asked Lee.

Rheza quickly sketched out a small ranch house, marking the doors and windows and the old barn that stood a hundred yards away as Lee and Francine nodded. Lee glanced out the window.

"It's a full moon out there. We could get a head start before the sun comes up," he commented. He looked at Francine, "Can you still ride? Can you even see out of that eye?"

"Yes," she responded instantly then went on as Efraim began to protest, "I'll be fine – it's not swelling anymore and Lee can't go alone."

"I will come too," said Rheza.

"No!" said all three agents in chorus.

"No, Sir, you won't," said Lee. "We need to know you're safe and you'll be safer here with your guards in place. Besides you're the only one who can command them easily unless Beaman's Zakirian has improved drastically since yesterday."

"The Agency has reinforcements on the way – most by road but Billy's flying up as soon as it's light. It will be best if you're here to brief him," added Francine.

It was obvious Rheza wasn't happy about the situation but he nodded angrily. "Fine, but you will bring my wife back to me safely, yes?"

"Oh yes. But after this," Francine pointed to her face, "I can't answer for Bo's safety."

The three agents made their way to the barn, Francine scouting out tack while Lee haltered two horses and led them out to be bridled. Working easily, they had them saddled within moments and Lee had swung up onto his mount. He watched as Francine leaned in to hug Beaman briefly before mounting herself.

"Be careful," said Efraim unnecessarily, one hand resting on her thigh as he looked up at her.

"I will. Don't worry about me," she answered, smiling when he rolled his eyes in response. "Well, _try_ not to worry about me then."

"Come on, let's get moving," Lee interrupted them, gruffly.

With a last wave, they turned and headed up the dark trail. It was still dark enough among the trees that they had to go slowly at first, but the full moon shining through the trees let Francine catch sight of something on the trail.

"Hang on a second," she called, swinging down off her horse to pick it up. "We're definitely on their trail," she went on holding up what they both recognized as one of Amanda's hair bands. She remounted and urged her horse after Lee who had already started back up the trail, his sense of urgency increasing as they got closer to their quarry.

Twenty minutes later, the sun was beginning to rise and they slipped off their horses and crept up a nearby hill to survey the route ahead. They could see the old homestead and its barn below them. There were three horses in the corral and Sultan's reins were draped loosely over the rail in front of the barn.

"If there's only three horses, Earl definitely brought them up here by himself," whispered Francine. "And Bo must be planning to move off again pretty soon if he hasn't even unsaddled Sultan."

"Let's swing around and come at the house from behind the barn. They won't be expecting an approach from that direction."

Francine nodded and they began to move through the trees.


	10. A Penny Saved

"Amanda! Amanda?"

She could hear Penny calling her and tried to drag herself into consciousness. Without her allergy pills, the horse ride up here had been exhausting. She had eventually stopped sneezing as her sinuses had clogged and she had just concentrated on trying to breathe. She had been so debilitated by the time Earl had dragged her into the old building at gunpoint that she hadn't been able to keep herself from sliding into unconsciousness. Now coming awake, she could feel her chest was still tight and she struggled to take a deep breath, which was difficult because of the angle that her hands were tied behind her back.

"Amanda?" Penny called again and she forced herself to open her sleep- encrusted eyes. She could see the princess seated across the room, arms handcuffed to a wooden post that ran floor to ceiling.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," she finally managed to answer groggily, using her elbows to force herself upright.

"Thank God!" said Penny. "Now look, Earl obviously didn't plan on bringing two of us, because he's only got you tied with baling twine. Do you think you can move over here? There's some broken glass over here and you should be able to cut yourself free."

Amanda blinked slowly at her, hearing the urgency in her voice but barely able to pull together the energy to respond. She shook her head trying to clear it, then began to shuffle cross the room on her knees to the glass Penny had pointed out. Sure enough, once she had managed to grasp a shard, it was only seconds before her hands were free.

"Are you ok?" she asked Penny, finally.

"I'm fine," answered Penny bitterly. "Just angry. I heard Bo arrive a little while ago – he's been downstairs talking with Earl, but I haven't been able to make anything out except that he's angry too. Whatever he wanted from Rheza, he obviously didn't get it."

"If he hasn't, then what's he going to do with us?" Amanda asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but let's not find out. What can you see from the window?"

Amanda crawled to the window and peered out through the dusty glass.

"Looks like Bo rode Sultan up here but he's by himself because there's no more horses. There's a barn but I can't see any other buildings. The sun's just coming up so I can tell we're facing south and oh! There's someone up in the trees." She made a small noise of delight as she recognized the shadowy figure. "Francine! Francine is up there! Thank goodness – I was so worried about her when we left."

"Is she alone?"

"I don't know – I can't see anyone else." Amanda shifted position to try and look further to her left when they heard Bo give a shout of anger below them - he'd obviously spotted Francine as well. They could hear him scrambling downstairs and then the sounds of footsteps moving out the back door. From her position at the window, Amanda could see the two men come around the side of the house and move towards the barn, keeping it between themselves and Francine so she couldn't see them.

"I think they're going to get away," she muttered, struggling to open the window so she could get Francine's attention. As she did so, to her horror, she saw Lee appear around the far side of the barn and slip inside, unaware of the two men approaching him from the other side.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she cried out, wrestling more frantically with the window.

"What's the matter?"

"It's Lee – they've got him cornered in the barn and he doesn't know it!" With a final grunt of effort, Amanda finally managed to get the window open and leaned out to yell a warning. "Lee!"

Too late she realized she still couldn't get enough breath to shout properly and the barn was just too far away.

"Lee!" she sobbed. She leaned out the window and began waving frantically at Francine who acknowledged her with a wave but didn't understand that she was trying to warn them.

She hobbled to the door, hoping it would be unlocked but of course it wasn't. She half-ran, half-skipped back to the window, ignoring the shooting pains in her ankle, and watched as Bo inched forward around the front of the barn, slipping under Sultan's neck, still just out of Francine's line of sight. As she leaned out the window to try and yell again, she felt something in her pocket hit the sill. She looked down, puzzled, then felt a flood of relief as she realized what it was. She dug into her pocket, pulling the slim metal whistle out and leaned out the window again. Sucking in as deep a breath as she could, she blew into it as hard as she could, hoping her mother was right about whistles carrying further than voices.

For a split second, time stood still and then it seemed to her that everything went into slow motion. Lee spinning to see the source of the noise and lifting his gun, Bo lifting his pistol in a mirror motion and then to her horror, Sultan rearing up, pulling loose from the tie rail screaming and crashing back down on Bo, iron-shod hooves striking his head and knocking him to the ground. Twice more he reared, continuing to land on Bo's prone body until he'd stopped moving, skull cracked and blood oozing into the dirt. Attracted by the commotion, Earl ran around the corner, skidding to a stop as he saw Bo, then looking up to find Lee with his gun trained on him.

Amanda couldn't hear what happened next but she could see Lee gesturing to Earl to drop his weapon and Earl tossing it to the side, as Francine scrambled down the hillside to join them. Earl stood quietly as she handcuffed him while Lee checked on Bo. She saw him look up at Francine, shaking his head; she turned away from the window and slumped to the floor, looking nauseated.

"What's happening?" asked Penny frantically.

"Bo's dead," answered Amanda listlessly. "Sultan killed him," she added at Penny's shocked look. "Francine was right about him and the whistle."

Comprehension dawned on Penny's face as there was a crash at the door, then a second, and then Lee fell through as the door flew off its hinges. He landed on one shoulder, and rolled onto his elbows, gun still in his hand as he looked around wildly for any more of Bo's men.

"Floor again, Butch?" asked Amanda with a tired smile.

"It's been working for me so far," he answered with a grin as he climbed to his feet. "You both ok?"

"We're fine," answered Penny. "What about Rheza?"

"He's fine too. Francine and the royal guard stormed the palace and saved the day before we even got there." Lee was busy picking the lock on Penny's handcuffs, and helping her to her feet. "He's waiting for you back at the main house and he's probably just about out of his mind by now." He walked over to Amanda who was gripping the window frame and dragging herself upright. He scooped her up with a sigh, and headed for the door,

"Come on, Sundance, let's get you home before you do yourself any more damage, ok?"

She knew she should protest, but she was just too tired and queasy, so she just let herself relax in his arms and closed her eyes.

"Hey, are you really ok?" he asked, worried at how quiet and pale she was.

"It was my fault," she answered, not opening her eyes.

"What was your fault?" asked Lee in confusion as he navigated his way down the stairs.

"Sultan – it was my fault. I forgot how he reacts to the whistle and I was really only using it because I tried to yell to you, but you couldn't hear me from so far away and Francine didn't know you were in trouble and I was just trying to get you to turn around in time and then I blew it and Sultan just went crazy and…"

"A-man-da!" Lee didn't know if he was more relieved at the rush of words that sounded like his usual Amanda or horrified at the note of hysteria in her voice as she blamed herself. He walked out the front door, wincing when he saw Bo's body still lying in the dirt, and executing a sharp right turn to walk around to the side of the house to lower her onto a bench under the overhanging roof. She still wouldn't look at him, dropping her face in her hands as Penny sank down onto the bench beside her. He looked at the princess helplessly, having only partially understood Amanda's story.

"Bo trained Sultan to go crazy at the sound of a whistle," she explained, placing an arm around Amanda's shoulders. "We think he was going to try and make my death look like an accident. He was planning all this for a while."

Lee stared at her in shock, and then back at Amanda who was rocking back and forth, obviously in shock herself. He crouched down in front of her, pulling her hands down to hold them in his. "Amanda, that was _not_ your fault! You weren't trying to hurt Bo, you were trying to help me and it is not your fault Bo was insane enough to train that poor horse to be dangerous."

"I suppose so," she said tonelessly, obviously unconvinced.

"He's right," said Penny, pulling Amanda in closer. "You didn't do anything wrong and you saved Mr. Stetson."

"As usual," quipped Lee, squeezing her hand. He looked up as Francine rounded the corner to join them.

"Amanda, are you sure your last name is King and not Blake? Your knack for saving Marshal Dillon here is starting to border on farcical."

To Lee's relief, for some reason, it was Francine's caustic remark that finally brought out a hiccupping laugh from Amanda. "I'm so glad to see you. When we had to leave you there…" The laugh turned into something that was also half a sob.

"I'm fine," answered Francine, immediately. "Stop worrying and start thinking about how you're going to help me spend my danger pay bonus in the shoe department at Nordstrom's when we get home. Speaking of which, I can hear the cavalry coming," she said, jerking her head behind her.

"Good, we need to get these two home," Lee answered, straightening up.

Amanda's head finally really lifted at that, eyes wide. "Do I have to ride all the way back down?" she whimpered. If she hadn't looked so worried, Lee would have laughed at how much more anguished she looked about the prospect at getting anywhere near a horse again than anything else that had happened to her so far.

"No, Sundance – you get to go home in style." He pointed upwards and Amanda realized she could hear the unmistakable sound of an approaching helicopter.

"Oh good." Her look of relief was followed almost comically fast by a look of rising panic. "I've never been in a helicopter."

"Don't look so worried," laughed Lee. "It's not like you have to fly the thing."

* * *

 

Not so many hours later, Amanda was propped up against the pillows of a hospital bed back in DC, complaining bitterly that there was no need for her to be there.

"I'm perfectly fine," she groused to her mother. "My breathing is back to normal and my ankle isn't any worse than it was when I left on the trip! I don't understand why I have to stay here." Even as she said it out loud, she realized she sounded exactly like Lee and looked down to hide her smile. _Oh my gosh, I've spent way too much time with him in hospitals._

Dotty ignored her complaints and busied herself, fluttering around the bed, adjusting the blanket and pillows and then picking up Amanda's clothes and starting to hang them in the small closet. She stopped in her tracks, staring at the jeans disgustedly. "Oh Amanda, Darling – you can't wear these home! They're positively coated in horse hair! You'd be having another allergy attack before we even left the hospital! I'm going to take these to the dry cleaner so we don't bring any of this hair into the house!" She began to empty the jean pockets onto the table, pulling out a scrap of paper and unfolding it. "What's this? – oh my!" She held up the paper. "You actually got Bo Johnson's autograph for me?"

"I actually did," replied Amanda tiredly. "You should hang onto that Mother – it's the last autograph he ever gave – it'll probably be worth a fortune."

Dotty dropped it onto the table as if it was a snake. "I simply cannot believe Bo Johnson turned out to be a homicidal maniac! Whatever could have possessed the man to try and kill Penny? She's so nice!"

"Mother, you know we're not supposed to discuss it in public," scolded Amanda. "That man from State Department said this whole thing needs to stay secret so it doesn't interfere with US-Zakirian relations."

"Well! I should think that relations should be just fine considering it was Americans who rescued their royal family!"

"And who tried to kill them in the first place," Amanda reminded her.

"Well, yes, I suppose that's true too," agreed Dotty sadly. "And you of all people ended up in the middle of all of it! Just by leading a school tour! I mean, how incredible is that – I mean you are not the kind of person who ever has adventures, are you, Amanda? And then when you do, you're all mixed up with movie stars and royalty and killers and well, I can just imagine how this could end up being one of those movie of the week stories on TV!"

"Except we're not allowed to tell anyone," Amanda reminded her again.

"Except we're not allowed to tell anyone!" Dotty looked momentarily deflated, but then perked up again, dark eyes full of mischief "Still, it's fun to think about! Who do you think would play me?"

"Mother!" Amanda was laughing outright now.

"Well, you know who could play Penny? That dark-haired girl from that show!" Dotty paused as Amanda laughed harder. "Oh you know the one I mean! That show with the three girls who solve crimes and there's two of them with dark hair and one had short hair and one has long hair, and one looks just like her! Jaclyn Smith!" she finally crowed triumphantly. "She'd be perfect!"

"Yes, she would," agreed Amanda. As Dotty continued to natter on, Amanda let her mind drift back to the events of the day. _Never have adventures indeed,_ she smiled to herself.

The helicopter that came to rescue them had been carrying Billy, Fred Fielder and Sammy Dane, who she remembered from helping with Alexei. Lee had gone to greet them and there'd been a few minutes of discussion before Lee had come back to the bench and lifted her up again. "I'm to see the three of you safely back and brief Prince Rheza, and then come back to help Dane take the horses back down the trail."

"Is there room?" asked Amanda doubtfully, looking at the small enclosed space.

"We'll be fine," answered Lee, stepping up into the open side of the 'copter and sitting on the bench with Amanda on his lap. Agent Dane helped Penny in to take the empty space beside them, and then slid the door shut as Francine scrambled into the front passenger seat. He gave the pilot the thumbs up and Amanda felt the lurch as they went airborne.

She might have enjoyed the trip if she hadn't been so terrified.

"How are you doing?" she heard Lee's voice laughing in her ear.

"I'm doing just fine," she squeaked.

"Open your eyes!" he laughed again. She hadn't even realized she'd had them scrunched shut until that moment. She eased them open and realized they were flying over the trees and down the valley, bathed in golden morning light.

"Oooh," she exclaimed as they lifted over a hill and she could see the Blue Ridge Mountains rippling away into the distance.

"Better going up than down?" asked Lee.

"Much better," she answered, gazing out the window raptly at the incredible view.

Within a minute or two, they were landing back at Bo's compound. Efraim paced quickly across the landing pad to slide open the door and Penny launched herself out of the helicopter, running across the open space and into her husband's arms. They stood there for some time, arms wrapped around each other, not speaking but rocking back and forth as if they couldn't bear to let each other go. Efraim had gone to help Francine out, grinning ruefully when she leapt out before he could get there, although she did pause to stroke his cheek and exchange a quiet smile of relief before heading towards the house. He turned to see if Lee needed help, but he too was already on his feet, and stepping out of the helicopter, bent over under the slowing blades to follow Francine and still carrying a now-protesting Amanda.

"I am perfectly capable of walking by myself, Lee," she scolded. Catching his raised brow and twitching lips, she amended. "Alright, maybe not _perfectly_ capable, but _adequately_ capable!"

"Humor me," he answered. "I just want to make sure you don't get into any more trouble before I put you in the care of the Zakirian Royal Guard!"

"Lee! I do not get into trouble any more than anyone else!" She continued to argue with him for the rest of the walk to the house; he would never admit what a relief it was to listen to her rambling on about all the reasons he should put her down although she'd given up actually physically trying to escape him – just as she'd never admit how much calmer she felt in his arms and how bereft she felt when he placed her gently on a couch inside.

She was just sighing at that memory when her hospital room door swung open and the object of her thoughts walked in, carrying a large bouquet.

"Hey Sunda-" he stopped abruptly as he realized Dotty was there. She in turn had stopped in mid-flow to stare at him.

"Ahhhhh!" he stammered, whirling to leave. "Sorry! Wrong room!" In the blink of an eye, he'd vanished, leaving Amanda struggling to control her giggles.

"It doesn't have to be!" Dotty called after him.

"Mother!" scolded Amanda in a scandalized tone.

"What? That could have been opportunity knocking and besides, he was cute!"

 _Not that cute,_ Amanda just stopped herself from responding.

Dotty sighed. "Although now that I think about it, he was married anyway."

Amanda could no longer hide her laughter. "How do you figure that, Mother?"

"Well, he was obviously looking for a child, wasn't he?"

"He was?"

"Didn't you hear him?" Dotty explained. "He said 'Hey son' when he walked in." She gave a mock sigh. "What a pity – such a handsome man. His wife must be a very lucky woman."

Amanda gurgled with laughter, knowing she was never going to let Lee hear the end of this one. "I'm sure she is, Mother."


	11. Epilogue: Ever After

Amanda carried the small parcel to her desk and began to unwrap it. Lee had just handed it to her, telling her it had come from Zakir via diplomatic pouch. He'd followed along behind her and perched on the side of the desk, watching with interest.

She pulled out an envelope first, sealed with the Zakirian royal crest. With a quick glance at Lee, she opened it carefully and began to read. As he watched, her face lit up and she looked up with sparkling eyes.

"Oh, listen to this!" she began to read. "Dear Amanda, it would seem that there's nothing like a near miss to let all other worries fade away. Apparently we can expect an heir to the throne in a little over eight months. And who'd have guessed - no sexy nightgown required after all."

Lee grinned back at her. "That's great! They must be pretty happy, huh?" He paused in sudden confusion. "What did she mean about sexy nightgowns?"

"It's a long story. Maybe you can get that secret wife of yours to explain it to you," laughed Amanda before continuing to read. "Rheza says to tell you that you will always be our lucky charm and to please accept this token of friendship with our everlasting gratitude."

She looked doubtfully at the small box that had accompanied the letter.

"What's the matter?" asked Lee curiously. "You're not worried it's a bomb or something, are you?"

"No, of course not, but am I allowed to accept gifts like this? As a government employee, I mean?"

Lee laughed. "I won't tell anyone if you don't!" She still looked worried, so he picked up the box and handed it to her. "Amanda, it's fine – it's not an official gift, it's just a small gift from one friend to another."

"Okay," she replied in a relieved tone. He watched as she flipped up the lid and stared at the contents mesmerized. "Oooohhhh" she breathed out before lifting a dazzling heart-shaped diamond necklace. "It's so beautiful! Are you sure I can accept this?" she repeated.

"I'm sure, Sundance," said Lee, standing up and taking it from her and gesturing for her to move her hair so he could fasten it around her neck. He found himself gazing for just a moment too long at her neck and dragged his eyes away to glance at the box. "What's that still in the box?"

Amanda leaned forward to pluck it out a small piece of paper and read out loud. "Never forget that true friends are more valuable than diamonds."

"I couldn't agree more, Amanda." Lee walked back around the desk. "And you know, I was thinking about how you told Penny we never have any fun."

Amanda blushed furiously "Oh Lee, I was teasing, you know that!"

"Oh I know, but still – I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party tonight? I know it's kind of last minute, but I have to go to a reception for Quickie Chickie Snack Shack tonight to meet a contact and I thought maybe you'd like to come along? All you have to do is have fun."

"Doesn't Francine usually go with you to these things as backup?"

"Yeah, usually, but with the broken cheekbone and that gorgeous black eye, she's still off the party circuit. Besides this isn't a backup situation, it's just a party – so how about it? Come on, Cinderella – leave the housework and come to the ball. You never know, you might meet your own prince!"

Amanda wrinkled up her nose and shook her head. "I don't think I want a prince – it seems like it's even more dangerous than being a spy! Besides, with my luck, I'll meet nothing but frogs!"

"Well, just don't kiss anyone and you'll be fine," Lee pointed out, dimples deepening.

"I won't have to dance, will I?" she asked, pointing to the cast she was still wearing.

"Nope, you can just mingle and work on your interrogation skills, I promise. More Brenda Starr and less Belle Starr this time."

"You promise?"

"Scout's Honor."

"You were never a Scout."

Lee just kept grinning at her and inevitably, she gave in to the dimples.

"Okay," she smiled at last. "I'd love to go to a party with you. What time should I meet you back here? And what should I wear?"

Lee smiled at her capitulation. "Around six? And what about that dress you wore to the Embassy party – you looked really nice in that. And if I remember correctly, you went home with that outfit in one piece for once, didn't you?"

"Just that one time, yes. And all you're doing now is reminding me how much 'fun' it can be to go out with you," she teased him.

"Well, think of this as my opportunity to finally prove I can go somewhere together without someone trying to kill one of us."

She cocked her head to one side and studied him. It occurred to her, not for the first time, that Lee made jokes like that all the time but always with the slightest shadow in his eyes. Penny's words came back to her suddenly – _"when you spend your life surrounded by men with machine guns, your sense of humor gets pretty dark pretty fast."_ Lee didn't seem like a dark person but his eyes sometimes told another story.

"Well, I'll look forward to that, Mr. Cassidy, if you think you can actually deliver," she answered lightly.

Lee's smile broadened and the shadow lifted. "Why Kid, such lack of faith! I always deliver even if Quickie Chickie doesn't." Pleased with his own joke, he winked with one last grin, and turned and sauntered away to his own desk.

 _Damn it,_ thought Amanda silently. _He really is cute_.


End file.
